UN Secretary-General António Guterres has spoken in the last 48 hours with several Middle East leaders affected by the escalation of conflict in the region following the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, but he did not speak with President Donald Trump. According to the secretary-general's spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, explained at his daily press conference on Monday, the last leader he spoke with was the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to whom he conveyed his condemnation of the recent attacks on his country. The Secretary-General considered the attacks on Qatar, whom he defined as «a strong and valuable partner» of the UN, to be a «violation of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity». Both discussed the situation in the region and the «urgent need to end the current military escalation and return to dialogue for regional stability», according to a statement. Over the weekend, he also spoke with the Omani Minister of Foreign Affairs, thanking him for his mediating role in the negotiations, as well as with ambassadors from the Gulf Cooperation Council, Dujarric added. However, the spokesperson stated that Guterres has not spoken with US President Donald Trump, nor did he mention Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When asked why the Secretary-General did not speak with the US President, Dujarric said: «Diplomacy works a bit more formally than journalistic information». «The expansion of attacks to countries that did not participate in the initial attack is, according to the Secretary-General, particularly concerning, whether in the Gulf countries, Jordan, Syria, or Lebanon», the spokesperson asserted. The United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran last Saturday that resulted in the death of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and much of its military leadership. Following Khamenei's death, Iran launched retaliatory attacks against Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and US bases in the region.
