UN warning: risk of devastating escalation in the Middle East

UN experts denounce aggression against Iran and Lebanon and warn of a devastating regional escalation.

UN experts today condemned the ongoing military attacks against Iran and Lebanon, carried out by the United States and Israel, as flagrant violations of international law.

“The conflict risks plunging the entire region into catastrophic armed violence and threatens to create yet another precedent of total impunity for some of the world’s greatest military powers,” the experts said.

They emphasized that the unprovoked attack by the United States and Israel against Iran – carried out while negotiations were still ongoing and with the implicit or explicit endorsement of numerous states – is completely illegal under international law and constitutes an act of aggression.

“The US and Israel should stop waging and expanding wars, and consider themselves above international legality,” the experts said.

They expressed deep concern about the US demand for Iran’s “unconditional surrender,” warning that such a move could lead to a protracted war and enormous human suffering. They also condemned US demands for regime change, including the US president’s statements that “he will choose the future leadership of Iran”.

“No violation of human rights in Iran or anywhere else provides any legal or moral justification for an unjustified interference in the sovereignty of a UN Member State and an unlawful attack,” the experts said.

They urged all States to respect the Iranian people’s right to self-determination and to define and change their own political system, free from foreign interference.

“Only the Iranian people can decide their own future, in full sovereignty and in accordance with the principles of the rule of law and respect for human rights,” said the experts. They added that decades of US interference in Iran and the rest of the Middle East, through coups d’état, military interventions and unilateral sanctions, have caused chaos in the region and must end.

“Any loss of life in an illegal war is a violation of the right to life,” the experts said.

They called for an independent investigation into specific attacks that could constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law. They cited the attack on a girls’ school in Iran, in which at least 180 girls were killed, the attacks on Iranian oil refineries that caused acid rain, and the attacks on a desalination plant.

The experts also stressed that while Iran has the right to self-defense, retaliatory attacks against civilian targets — including desalination infrastructure and residential towers in neighboring Gulf countries — also violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately.

The entire Middle East is highly urbanized, with an estimated urban density of between 75 and 80%. Experts have pointed out that an aerial war and the use of heavy weaponry, often supposedly guided by artificial intelligence, will disproportionately devastate the civilian population.

“We are alarmed by the possibility that the kind of large-scale destruction and violence seen in Gaza could spread to Iran, Lebanon and other countries in the region — a dire scenario that would further plunge the world into a moral and legal abyss, with devastating consequences for people in the region and beyond,” the experts said.

They also condemned Israel’s escalation of hostilities in Lebanon, which could be considered an irresponsible act of aggression.

“The orders issued to the inhabitants of southern Lebanon and southern Beirut to abandon their homes are blatantly illegal,” the experts said. “Added to heavy and indiscriminate bombing, these orders resulted in the forced displacement of at least 700,000 people – which would constitute yet another war crime.”

Experts deplored the failure of the UN Security Council to fulfill its responsibilities for international peace and security in the region. “This negligence is pushing the world irreversibly towards a precipice,” they said.

They urged an immediate ceasefire between all parties and called for an international peace conference to address the future of the region.

The experts contacted the authorities to address this matter.

*The experts:

• George Katrougalosindependent expert on promoting a democratic and equitable international order.
• Balakrishnan RajagopalSpecial Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living and on the right to non-discrimination in this context.
• Reem AlsalemSpecial Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences.
• Francesca AlbaneseSpecial Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
• Ben SaulSpecial Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the context of combating terrorism.
• Michael FakhriSpecial Rapporteur on the right to food.
• Claudia Flores (President), Ivana Krstić (Vice-President), Dorothy Estrada Tanck, China Lu e Laura OwnerWorking Group on discrimination against women and girls.
• Morris Tidball BinzSpecial Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
• Paula GaviriaSpecial Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced people.

Originally published by OHCHR on 03/12/2026