U.S. tells U.N. Security Council all options on table, Iran warns it will respond to any aggression
A meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Iran at the request of the United States at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., January 15. – Photo by Reuters

U.S. tells U.N. Security Council all options on table, Iran warns it will respond to any aggression

Posted: Friday 01.16.2026 4:46 am Iran, U.S.A, World

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The United States stands by the “brave people of Iran” and President Trump “has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the protests against clerical rule.
But on Thursday, Trump adopted a wait‑and‑see posture, saying he had been told that the killings were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions.
“President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations,” Waltz told the Security Council meeting, which Washington had requested. “He has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter.”

Iran says will respond to any aggression

Waltz dismissed allegations by Iran that the protests are “a foreign plot to give a precursor to military action.”
“Everyone in the world needs to know that the regime is weaker than ever before, and therefore is putting forward this lie because of the power of the Iranian people in the streets,” Waltz said. “They are afraid. They’re afraid of their own people.”
Iran’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Gholamhossein Darzi said Iran does not seek escalation or confrontation and accused Waltz of resorting “to lies, distortion of facts and a deliberate misinformation campaign to conceal his country’s direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran to violence.
“However, any act of aggression — direct or indirect — will be met with a decisive, proportionate and lawful response,” he told the Security Council. “This is not a threat; it is a statement of legal reality.”
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the United States of convening the Security Council in a bid to “justify blatant aggression and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state” and threats to “solve the Iranian problem in its favorite way: through strikes aimed at overthrowing an undesirable regime.”
“We strongly urge the hot heads in Washington and other capitals… to come to their senses,” he said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges “maximum restraint at this sensitive moment and calls on all actors to refrain from any actions that could lead to further loss of life or ignite a wider regional escalation,” senior U.N. official Martha Pobee told the council.
“Loud and clear, again and again, we hear the Iranians lift their voices for a better life,” Denmark’s U.N. Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen told the Security Council. “For too long the leaders in Tehran have not heeded this call. The time has now come for the government of Iran to finally listen, to respond to the will of its people through peaceful means. We urge them to start today.”

Middle East allies in blitz of diplomacy urged Trump to hold off on Iran strikes, diplomat says

Several Middle Eastern allies of the United States have urged the Trump administration to hold off on strikes against Iran for the government’s deadly crackdown on protesters, according to an Arab diplomat familiar with the matter.

Top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have raised concerns in the last 48 hours that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region, said the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive conversations.

Oil prices fell on Thursday as the markets appeared to take note of Trump’s shifting tone as a sign that he’s leaning away from attacking Iran after days of launching blistering threats at Tehran for its brutal crackdown.

Nevertheless, on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt maintained that “all options remain on the table” for Trump as he deals with Iran.

Trump, in a matter of a day, went from offering assurances to Iranian citizens that “help is on its way” and urging them to take over their country’s institutions to abruptly declaring on Wednesday that he had received information from “very important sources on the other side” that Iran had stopped killing protesters and was not going forward with executions.

The Arab officials also urged senior Iranian officials to quickly end the violent repression of protesters. They warned that any Iranian response to a U.S. action against the U.S. or other targets in the region would have significant repercussions for Iran, the diplomat said, according to the Associated Press.

Asked about reports of allies asking Trump to hold off on the strikes at a White House briefing, Leavitt did not directly address the matter.

Waltz, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said military action is an option that remains in play.

– Reuters and AP wire services contributed to this report

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