The United Nations Secretary-General has said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that both Israel and Iran have committed war crimes after recent strikes on energy facilities.
Speaking to Politico ahead of a European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday, António Guterres said attacks on energy infrastructure “might constitute a war crime” after both sides traded strikes on oil and gas facilities.
His comments follow intensified airstrikes and retaliatory attacks on energy facilities around the Gulf this week.
On Wednesday, Israel hit Iran’s South Pars natural gas field, the source of 75 per cent of its gas, on which it is reliant for the vast majority of its electricity. Shortly afterwards, Tehran launched retaliatory strikes on Qatar’s Ras Laffan plant, the world’s largest LNG export hub.
Beyond this, Mr Guterres said the growing number of civilian casualties left both sides open to possible war crime charges.
“I don't see any difference. It doesn't matter who targets civilians. It is totally unacceptable.”
The Independent has contacted the White House and Israeli authorities for comment.
Hostilities began on 28 February when the opening salvo of the United States and Israel’s air campaign against Iran killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes with ballistic missiles and drones across the Middle East.
The UN Secretary-General implied Israel was to blame for perpetuating the conflict, calling for US President Donald Trump to persuade Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu – currently under indictment for war crimes allegedly committed during the war in Gaza – to wind down the conflict.
“The war needs to stop…and I believe that it is in the hands of the US to make it stop,” Mr Guterres said. “It is possible [to end the war], but it depends on the political will to do it.”
Surmising the three governments’ different positions, he said: “I am convinced that Israel, as a strategy, wants to achieve a total destruction of the military capacity of Iran and regime change. And I believe Iran has a strategy, which is to resist for as much time as possible and to cause as much harm as possible. So the key to solve the problem is that the U.S. decides to claim that they have done their job.”
Mr Guterres added that he believes Israel motivated America’s initial decision to strike Iran.
“I have no doubt that this was something that corresponds to Israel's strategy... to draw the United States into a war. That objective was achieved.”
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