UN Human Rights Council condemns Iran attacks on Gulf States, demands halt

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday condemned Iran’s terrorist attacks on its Gulf neighbours, calling on it to promptly provide “compensation” to all victims.

The 47-member Council approved a resolution submitted by the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and Jordan, condemning Iran’s moves to close the Strait of Hormuz and demanding that Tehran “immediately halt all unjustified attacks.”

Iran on Wednesday dismissed an American plan to pause the war in the Middle East, issuing its own counterproposal instead, as it launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries.

Two officials from Pakistan described the 15-point US proposal broadly, saying it addressed sanctions relief, a rollback of Iran's nuclear program, limits on missiles and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is shipped.

The war in the Middle East is "out of control," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday, warning of more human and economic pain the longer fighting goes on.

"The conflict has broken past the limits even leaders thought imaginable," he told reporters. "The world is staring down the barrel of a wider war, a rising tide of human suffering, and a deeper global economic shock. This has gone too far."