UN warns against ‘escalation’ of tensions in Persian Gulf

The United Nations (UN)’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned against “any form of escalation” in the Persian Gulf, amid threats of military strikes by the United States against Iran.

“The world cannot afford a major confrontation [in] the [Persian] Gulf. Everybody must keep nerves of steel. It’s absolutely essential to avoid any form of escalation,” the UN chief said in brief remarks on the sidelines of an event in Portugal on Sunday, without referring to any country by name.

On Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) shot down a US spy drone that had intruded into Iranian airspace in the southern coastal province of Hormozgan.

Shortly afterwards, Iran provided the map coordinates of the precise spot where the drone had been shot. The US first denied that any of its drones had been hit and acknowledged the shooting down only later. It took the US even more time to produce any map coordinates, alleging that the drone had been targeted in international airspace.

Iran, which collected the drone’s wreckage in its waters, offered more detailed information — including about the drone’s entire path and its launch base in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — on Saturday.

The tensions in the Persian Gulf first ratcheted up earlier this month, when two oil tankers in the Sea of Oman were presumably attacked under murky circumstances.

SS