US calls on UN Security Council to 'rein in' Iran and its proxy militias in the region

Since mid-October, Iraqi and Syrian militia groups backed by Iran have launched dozens of attacks on US military assets in the region

A flag of the Kataib Hezbollah militia group is waved during a protest in Baghdad. Reuters

Washington called on the UN Security Council on Monday to “rein in” Iran and its proxy militias, which have been attacking US military assets in the region.

Robert Wood, US deputy UN ambassador asked the 14 other council members, especially those with direct channels to Iran, “to press Iranian leaders to rein in their militias and stop these attacks".

He also emphasised that they should "press the Syrian regime to stop giving Iran a platform to destabilise the region".

The US military carried out 85 strikes against Iran-linked targets in four locations in Syria and three in Iraq on Friday night, in what President Joe Biden said was the first wave of retaliation for a drone attack that killed three American troops in Jordan on January 28.

“These targets were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties, and based on clear, irrefutable evidence that they were connected to attacks on US personnel in the region,” Mr Wood said.

Since mid-October, Iraqi and Syrian militia groups backed by Iran launched dozens of attacks on US military assets in the region, including 165 attacks on sites in Syria and Iraq, Rosemary DiCarlo, undersecretary general for political and peacebuilding affairs, told council members.

Mr Biden pledged to “hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing”.

Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani argued that “all of the resistance group in the region are independent,” and said they had legitimate rights to end “the illegal” US presence in Iraq and Syria.

Therefore, Mr Iravani, noted that any attempt to attribute these actions to Iran or its armed forces is "misleading, baseless and unacceptable".

Iran's envoy informed council members that his country never intended to extend its dispute with the US into Iraqi and Syrian territories, reaffirming Tehran's commitment to the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of both nations.

He accused both the US and Britain of trying to shift focus from “the root cause of the current situation in the region by falsely” pointing the finger at Iran.

US launches retaliatory strikes on Iran-backed targets in Iraq and Syria – video

Vasily Nebenzya, Moscow’s top envoy at the UN, who requested the meeting, denounced the US air strikes, calling them “another unlawful and irresponsible act”.

It is clear that American air strikes are specifically, deliberately aimed at sowing chaos and destruction in the Middle East, Mr Nebenzya warned.

He said violence by the US and its allies has escalated from the Palestine to Lebanon, the Red Sea and Yemen and is “nullifying international efforts to reestablish peace in the Middle East.”

“This demonstrates once again to the entire world the aggressive nature of US policy in the Middle East and the full disregard of Washington for norms of international law.”

Mr Wood clarified that the strikes in Iraq and Syria were separate and “distinct” from the coalition strikes in Yemen, which were in response to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels' lawless attacks on naval vessels and international shipping in the Red Sea.

Britain’s UN representative, Barbara Woodward, called the Houthi attacks on military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea “illegal and unacceptable”.

“This council was clear in Resolution 2722 that we condemn Houthi attacks and call on them to stop,” she said.

“Our actions and presence in the Red Sea are designed to protect innocent lives, preserve freedom of navigation, and deter further attacks on shipping.”

Iran-backed militias in Iraq hold funeral for militants killed in US strikes – video