At UN Security Council emergency session, Russia accuses Washington of risking nuclear catastrophe with Operation Midnight Hammer
New York [US], June 23 — Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, delivered a scathing rebuke of the United States’ recent military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, warning during an emergency session of the UN Security Council that Washington had “opened a Pandora’s box” with grave implications for international peace and security. Condemning the U.S.-led Operation Midnight Hammer as “irresponsible, dangerous, and provocative,” Nebenzia cautioned that the escalation threatens to push the Middle East — and the world — to the brink of nuclear disaster.
Addressing the Security Council under the official agenda item “threats to international peace and security,” Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia criticized the United States for its strikes on Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities. The attacks, he asserted, were not just a provocation against Iran but a global destabilizer.
“Washington reasserted that to further the interests of its Israeli ally, it’s prepared not only to turn a blind eye to the killings of tens of thousands of Palestinian women, children and older persons but also to gamble with the safety and well-being of humanity as a whole,” Nebenzia declared.
“Through their actions, the US has opened a Pandora’s box; no one knows what new catastrophes and suffering it will bring.”
Nebenzia reiterated Russia’s repeated offers to mediate a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue, saying Moscow’s efforts were deliberately ignored by the U.S. in favor of military escalation. He accused Washington of rejecting peaceful pathways and instead pushing the Middle East toward an uncontrollable conflict.
“We insisted and offered our US colleagues our mediation services so as to find a peaceful, mutually agreeable solution surrounding the Iranian nuclear program. Yet our US colleagues are clearly not interested in diplomacy,” Nebenzia added.
He warned that the U.S. leadership would bear full responsibility for the strikes and their potential fallout, which he argued could result in global upheaval.
“Unless we stop the escalation, the Middle East will find itself on the verge of a large-scale conflict with unpredictable consequences for the entire international security system. The entire world might end up on the verge of a nuclear disaster,” he said.
The Russian envoy called for an immediate halt to aggressive actions by both the U.S. and Israel and urged all parties to return to diplomacy and the established international negotiations framework.
“We call for an immediate cessation of aggressive actions by Israel and the US, restraint on the part of all parties and a return into the fold of international diplomacy and the negotiations process,” Nebenzia concluded.
His remarks follow the execution of Operation Midnight Hammer, a precision strike campaign launched by U.S. forces targeting Iran’s deeply fortified nuclear facilities. U.S. officials have described the operation as a resounding military success that severely degraded Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities, though the move has drawn widespread criticism and protests worldwide.
The emergency session reflected deep divisions within the international community, with some members supporting the U.S. response as necessary to prevent nuclear proliferation, while others — like Russia — warning that it undermines the United Nations charter and global peace architecture.