WATCH: Russia blasted the U.S. for running a “regime change” operation in Iran, while the Iranian envoy said “any act of aggression, direct or indirect, will be met with a decisive, proportionate, and lawful response.”
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, in an address to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, accused the United States of taking part in a regime change operation in Iran.
He said:
“What is happening on the streets of Iranian cities in recent days has gone far beyond peaceful protests. There have been documented cases of the use of firearms, killings of law enforcement officers and civilians, arson attacks on medical facilities and public institutions, and attacks on emergency services facilities. These actions cannot be covered up by the pretext of freedom of expression or the protection of human rights.
What is happening in Iran is yet another example of the use of tried and tested methods of ‘color revolutions,’ in which specially trained armed provocateurs turn peaceful protests into senseless riots, pogroms, destruction of public property, and brutal murders of police officers, state security personnel, and peaceful protesters, including children.
As we have already seen time and again in a number of countries, all these actions are either orchestrated or supported by external forces that are interested in so-called ‘regime change.'”
He said:
“Today’s meeting, convened by our American colleagues, is nothing but yet another attempt to justify blatant aggression and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. And if the Iranian authorities do not ‘come to their senses’ – as Washington put it – then the US will resolve the Iranian problem in their favorite way, namely through strikes geared towards overthrowing the undesirable regime.
In fact, in the current situation, these external forces are not not even bothering to hide their involvement in violent actions, especially given that the U.S. president has openly called on protesters to take over Iranian state institutions.
The U.S. and its ‘cheerleaders’ are actively exploiting the economic and social problems of ordinary Iranians, caused by the unlawful sanctions pressure imposed on Iran by Western countries. They are using sanctions to stir up public tensions and destabilize the domestic political situation.”
Nebenzia said the U.S. brought Iranians to speak to the Council [seen from 16:52 to 38:42 in the above video] who had lived in the U.S. for 20 years in order “to serve the positions of those who convened this meeting and have nothing to do with issues of international peace and security.”
He said: “In general, what is happening now is nothing but an embarrassment and a farce, a shoddy show unworthy of the members of the Council.”
He called the meeting a “circus” and a “cheap show.” One of the U.S. guest speakers accused Iran of committing “genocide” in its response to the violent uprising.
Nebenzia also warned of the “extremely dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric we hear in the recent days from the U.S. leadership, which has gone as far as openly calling for the ‘seizure of state institutions’ in Iran and threatening to provide ‘assistance’ to protesters. Such statements are nothing less than an incitement to violently change the constitutional order of a sovereign state.”
Read the full Russian statement.
Iranian Ambassador
Gholamhossein Darzi, Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. (U.N. TV)
Iran’s U.N. envoy Gholamhossein Darzi told the council he also rejected the briefers that the U.S. had brought to the meeting. “They do not represent Iranian civil society,” he said. “They represent the political agenda of the United States and Israeli regimes.” He accused them of being “on Mossad’s payroll.”
Darzi said that in the current violence many Iranians had been killed at the hands of the “atrocities of ISIS.” He accused the U.S. of engaging in disinformation to hide Washington’s role in trying to overthrow his government.
He said:
“It is deeply regrettable that the representative of the United States regime … has resorted to lies, distortions of facts and deliberate misinformation to conceal his country’s direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran to violence.”
Darzi accused the U.S. of employing mercenaries to commit crimes against his nation. “The United States regime is attempting to portray itself as friend of the Iranian people,” he said, “while simultaneously laying the groundwork for political destabilization and military intervention under a so-called humanitarian narrative.”
Speaking in English, Darzi then put the present U.S. operation into its historical context. He said:
In the past two weeks of unrest, Darzi said, the “United States regime is responsible “Peaceful protests that began on 28th of December 2025 with legitimate economic demands were deliberately hijacked by organized armed groups and transformed into violent riots.” The led to attacks on mosques and police stations, and beheadings and burning innocent people alive, Darzi said.
“The situation is in fact very simple. The United States regime and its accompllices, particularly the Israeli regime, cannot evade responsibility for the innocent blood that has been shed in my country,” he said.
“Unable to achieve their objectives through the 12-day war of aggression against Iran in June 2025, they now seek to pursue the same goals through political destabilization, internet internal unrest and chaos. This strategy relies on manufacturing casualties, spreading false and inflated figures, and creating a pretext for foreign intervention.
It is a familiar script, one that has been used repeatedly from Iraq to Libya and to Venezuela.”
Iran “seeks neither escalation nor confrontation,” he said. “However, any act of aggression, direct or indirect, will be met with a decisive, proportionate, and lawful response under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter,” he vowed.
“This is not a threat; it is a statement of legal reality. Responsibility for all consequences will rest solely with those who initiate such unlawful acts,” he said.
Adding to the evidence of armed foreign intervention into Iran during the current uprising, Reuters reported on Thursday that Kurdish separatist forces had entered from Iraq into Iran where they clashed with Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) forces.
After days of mounting pressure, the U.S. has apparently backed off its threats of military strikes, with Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff saying the U.S. prefers “diplomacy.” Gulf Arab states Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman, and Egypt, have all cautioned the U.S. against hitting Iran, fearing the consequences to the region of a wider war.
The New York Times reports that Gulf Arab monarchies are worried that replacing the Iranian regime would open the region to Israeli hegemony.
The Times also published a curious report under the headline, “Israel and Arab Nations Ask Trump to Refrain From Attacking Iran,” with a subtitle that reads: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel asked the president to postpone any planned attack. Israeli and Arab officials fear Iran could retaliate by striking their countries.”
The article then starts by quoting just a single “senior U.S. official” saying Netanyahu “has asked President Trump to postpone any plans for an American military attack on Iran.”
But the article gives no reasons why Netanyahu, who has been pressuring Trump to strike Iran, would do this, nor does it backup the subtitle that says Israel fears Iranian retaliation. That would be a bombshell revelation that Israel is not prepared to take the counterattack from Iran, after it suffered damage from Iran in the June war.
The piece provides no further details and moves on to other subjects without again mentioning Israel’s supposed call to halt the attack. The Israeli outlet y net Global, however, reported:
“According to CNN, Israeli officials warned that air defense systems had been used extensively during last year’s direct conflict with Iran and that they did not believe Iranian regime would collapse quickly without prolonged military campaign.”
Watch the full Iranian statement above from 1:45.00 to 2:07.00.
The US Intervention
U.S. Ambassador Mike Walz told the meeting:
“Colleagues, let me be clear: The level of violence, the level of repression that the Iranian regime has unleashed on its own citizens, its own people, has repercussions for international peace and security. You’re going to hear today that it doesn’t, that it’s an internal matter. Absolutely wrong and false. This demands this Council’s attention.”
Walz said that U.S. sanctions on Iran had nothing to do with Iran’s economic hardships. “Regardless of its excuses – and you will hear many today from the Iranian regime and from its friends – the regime is solely – solely responsible for the economic misery of the Iranian people and the repression of their freedom, and they will be held accountable,” he said. Read the full U.S. speech.
The representative of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the meeting condemned Iran’s violent response but skirted Iran’s contention of armed protestors and ISIS attacks backed by the U.S. and Israel.
Rather than ignore Iran, leaving the impression of siding with the U.S., the United Nations, which is supposed to be a neutral body, should investigate Iran’s allegations to bring the world an understanding of what is really happening in Iran.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange.
In the past, such covert destabilization operations as the latest which was violently launched against the people of Iran would have remained secret for a considerable length of time before becoming exposed.
In this instance, the covert criminal operation was exposed in just a matter of days, providing at least some consolation for peace activists around the Earth who worry about another unnecessary, stupid, senseless, major criminal war of aggression in the Middle East.
If people at the UN and some commentators are so upset and puzzled at the violent demonstrations in Iran, perhaps they should contemplate how the Iranians have been treated by their government for the past 47 years. Basic human freedoms guaranteed by the Iranian constitution (freedom of assembly, freedom of peaceful protest, freedom of worship) have been trampled. Citizens who peacefully demonstrate have been rounded up, beaten, lashed, tortured, imprisoned and in many cases executed. Khomeini’s 1988 fatwa to execute prisoners opposed to the regime lead to the summary killing of 30,000 Iranians, most without trial and most without notification of relatives. Neither of the two ayatollahs who have ruled Iran with an iron fist for the past 47 years have ever stood for election, and they can overrule decisions by the president, the parliament, the judges and also decide who can and cannot run in an election. Iranian women are beaten, tortured, raped and imprisoned for daring to not cover their hair in public, or for the horrible crime of trying to enter a stadium to watch a soccer match. Religious minorities (Baha’i, Zorostrians, Sunni Muslims, Christians and Jews) are routinely harassed, beaten and imprisoned. Reporters without Borders ranks Iran 170th out of 180 countries for press freedom. Gays are executed via hanging. The corrupt mullahs steal from their people and squirrel money away overseas, and they have squandered tens of billions of dollars propping up Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Houthis, and various other groups in Iraq and Syria. I wonder how many ordinary Iranians feel about their money going to people like Haniyeh and Mashaal of Hamas, who became billionaires. So please pardon the ordinary Iranian people if they appear frustrated. They deserve to live in a normal country with normal public servants whom they elect in free elections.
So Walz said that our sanctions on Iran had nothing to do with their economic hardships. I seem to remember President Trump bragging that his sanctions had really hurt Iran’s economy during his first term but that Biden blew it.
Footnote to flight 655 Naval strike on July 3, 1988 election year before 7/4 holiday and VP Bush on track to election to replace Reagan. Somewhat reminiscent of Aug 1964 LBJ election threatened by desegregation in the South for Tonken Gulf incident and bombing of North Vietnam for effect. So another Gulf looking for a provocative event.
US election years are a clear and present danger to world civilization over and over again.
Shame on the UN, again.
There are no traditional international institutions remaining that have not been corrupted by the empire of lies.
I just hope Iran has located and targeted Israel’s nukes with their most advanced missiles. Target number one in any response.
The comments of the Russian ambassador are very good and very welcome. Nations that have been targeted by the US for regime change — Venezuela, Russia, Iran, North Korea, China, and more — are now at a moment of crisis and decision. They can either allow the US and Israel to “pick them off” one by one or they can stand together and stand up to the US/Israel.
This is the right response to the aggression of the US/Israel”
“Iran “seeks neither escalation nor confrontation,” he said. “However, any act of aggression, direct or indirect, will be met with a decisive, proportionate, and lawful response under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter,” he vowed. ”
Iran with the full support of Russia, China, Pakistan, and other nations needs to launch their missiles on the first warning of a US/Israel attack. Make sure the US/Israel knows that when the first launch bombers, cruise missiles, or anything WW III will have started and within 24 hours Israel and all of the US military bases in the middle east will cease to exist.
As China has often made clear: China will never launch a first strike. But if the US launches a first strike, it will never launch a second strike. The US will be over.
We can see that US/Israel backed down on their planned regime change war against Iran once it was known that Iran knew the CIA/Mossad covert operation behind the riots and once Iran vowed to respond. This is how to deal with schoolyard bullies like Trump and Netanyahu.
You captured the actual spirit of the security council steam letting. What a put off of the mercenary briefers ! Somehow the episode serves to boost the UN’s fast eroding credibility and relevance even as Trump tries to concoct an alternative forum !
Anyone who thinks the Mossad and NED are not heavily involved in this attempt at a velvet color regime change are delusional morons or paid propagandists.
¿What is the name & background of the UN SecGen’s representative? Does not sound like a diplomat.
Thanks to Consortium News for its reporting — here and ongoing …
When the bartender throws one out the door .
The only reply you hear , “I’ve been kicked out of better places than this .”
Tommorow I’m coming back for more .
Pretty strong by Russia and Iran but words need to be followed by actions. The way to counter this is further close integration of the non-west.
Guterres is a disgrace … what a sad display.
Thank you for this report, Mr. Lauria. It is increasingly difficult to find any straight reporting in the mainstream media (NYT, WaPo, Guardian). Searching the internet is equally fruitless, as the search engines only cough up reports or re-reports from the major corporate media. I am grateful for the presence of Consortium News and its fellows. Keep it up, please!
If countries intervene in other countries the world is going to be chaotic!
The United Snakes of America has become a duplicitous aggressive empire. When are people going to get this?
I fully agree with your sentiments, unfortunately America hasn’t “become” a duplicitous and aggressive empire, it’s always been this way.
Ask any Native American Indian, or read about the many recorded atrocities committed upon them, from the first radically extreme Puritan settler to step foot in the Americas, to modern day, where discovered resources meant yet more broken promises and stolen land or where oil pipelines take precedence over an already well-abused and ethnically-cleansed native people’s struggle just to stay alive under the ominous, all-consuming shadow of Rome MKII. One small slice of a long history of similar behaviour.
To everyone else on the planet, America has always been this way.
When America seceded from Britain, the persistant rot of Perfidious Albion remained rooted within its body politic, kept alive and fed by the appropriate propaganda of exceptionalism. The only thing that’s really changed recently is the rhetoric politicians use to corral the masses. The reason being IMO, they’ve noticed they don’t need to be so coy anymore. There’s less and less need to hide true intent as the populace becomes intentionally ever more wanting, conditioned, dependant and/or cowed. I mean, there’s literally masked government forces currently kicking in people’s doors, dragging dissidents away and murdering innocent civilians in the street who dare intervene with something they clearly recognise from recent history as being as far removed from democracy as one can get, yet people are still sitting on their hands for many reasons while it continues unabated. That’s entirely due to a deliberately moulded wanting, conditioned, dependant and/or intimidated American population.
You may be surprised at how many people do ‘get it’, though.
It’s far too easy for people to become accustomed to relatively very high levels of comfort provided to them and they either can’t understand, fully understand, or more commonly, just don’t want to think about/don’t care where it all comes from, lest they have to sacrifice any of the now precious chattels they so heavily rely on and (absurdly, to the many millions of others in the world who’ve never owned such things) feel they literally can’t live without. You just don’t get too many people openly admitting to such a poor attitude in public.
At least YOU know. You care, and that counts for a great deal.
Completely agree. Thank you for saving me the trouble of saying what you did.
I keep asking the same question. The indoctrination runs deep.