UNITED NATIONS — Signaling that the Russian war in Ukraine has triggered an existential crisis for the United Nations, several of its key members on Thursday harshly denounced Moscow's actions, but failed to take new steps to stop the bloodshed and food, energy and humanitarian crises unleashed worldwide.
And in a separate action, the Biden administration imposed economic sanctions Thursday on Iran's notorious "morality police" in response to the death of a young woman in their custody. The unusual move by the U.S. — sanctions typically target military and political entities, not social-control bodies in Iran — came a day after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi addressed the U.N. General Assembly.
Raisi sought to deflect international outrage amid widespread street protests in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd who was reportedly arrested because her government-obliged headscarf failed to completely cover her hair. Raisi refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing, citing instead the human rights abuses of the U.S. and other Western countries.
