UNITED NATIONS — The United States and Iran confronted each other Thursday at an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting called by Washington, where U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz warned that President Trump would act to halt Iran’s deadly crackdown on nationwide protests. Activists say the government’s security forces have killed at least 2,677 people since the demonstrations began, a toll that exceeds any prior round of unrest in Iran in decades, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The figure released Thursday represents an increase of 106 from a day earlier.
The Security Council session came as signs emerged that Iran’s protests were being suppressed — videos of demonstrations had stopped appearing and gunfire in Tehran had faded — while an Iranian communications blackout remained in effect. Washington simultaneously announced new sanctions targeting Iranian officials accused of ordering violence against protesters, and the Group of Seven nations and the European Union said they too were weighing additional measures.
“Colleagues, let me be clear: President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations,” Waltz told the council. “He has made it clear that all options are on the table to stop the slaughter. And no one should know that better than the leadership of the Iranian regime.”
Even as Waltz delivered his warning, Trump signaled a possible de-escalation, saying the killing appeared to be ending. Witnesses in Tehran reported no new signs of unrest from the previous night, and the sound of gunfire in the capital, which had been intense for several nights, had faded, the Associated Press reported.
A diplomat told the AP that senior officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar spent the preceding 48 hours raising concerns with Trump that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region.
The AP said it has been unable to independently confirm the Human Rights Activists News Agency’s death toll because of communications restrictions in Iran. The Iranian government has not provided casualty figures. The agency, founded 20 years ago, relies on a network of activists inside Iran that it says confirms all reported fatalities, and the AP said it has been accurate throughout multiple years of demonstrations.
Dissidents testify before the council
The U.S. invited two Iranian dissidents, Masih Alinejad and Ahmad Batebi, to address the council alongside diplomats.
Alinejad spoke directly to the Iranian representative. “You have tried to kill me three times. I have seen my would-be assassin with my own eyes in front of my garden, in my home in Brooklyn,” she said. The Iranian official looked directly ahead without acknowledging her.
In October, two purported Russian mobsters were each sentenced to 25 years in prison for hiring a hit man to kill Alinejad at her New York home on behalf of the Iranian government, the AP reported.
Batebi described the injuries he said Iranian prison guards inflicted on him before pouring salt on his wounds. “If you do not believe me, I can show you my body right now,” he told the council. He pleaded with Trump not to abandon the protest movement. “You encouraged people to go into the streets. That was a good thing. But don’t leave them alone,” Batebi said.
Both dissidents called on the Security Council to do more to hold Iran accountable for its human rights record.
Iran rejects U.S. criticism
Hossein Darzi, the deputy Iranian ambassador to the U.N., rejected Washington’s characterization of events. “Under the hollow pretext of concern for the Iranian people and claims of support for human rights, the United States is attempting to portray itself as a friend of the Iranian people, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for political destabilization and military intervention under a so-called ‘humanitarian’ narrative,” Darzi said.
Russia was the only Security Council member to defend Iran’s actions during Thursday’s session, while calling on the U.S. to stop intervening.
U.S. and allied sanctions
The U.S. announced new sanctions Thursday on Iranian officials it accused of suppressing the protests. Among those sanctioned was the secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security, whom the Treasury Department accuses of being one of the first officials to call for violence against protesters.
The Group of Seven industrialized democracies and the European Union said they were looking at additional measures to increase pressure on the Iranian government. The G7 warned it could impose further sanctions if the crackdown continues. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-nation bloc was looking at strengthening sanctions “to push forward that this regime comes to an end and that there is change.”
The protests began late last month over Iran’s faltering economy and the collapse of its currency, the AP reported.