Trump to chair UN Security Council session on Iran

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

U.S. President Donald Trump will chair a session of the UN Security Council later this month that will focus on Iran, America’s UN envoy said Tuesday.

"He is calling the meeting to address Iran’s violations of international law, and the general instability Iran sows throughout the entire Middle East region," Nikki Haley told reporters at the UN's New York headquarters. "There is a growing concern about Iran."

Haley, who is chairing the council's presidency for the month of September, pointed to Iran's ballistic missile program, support for Lebanese Hezbollah and the Syrian regime, as well as Iran's assistance to Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Haley said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani could address the meeting if he chooses to do so.

Trump in May unilaterally withdrew Washington from a landmark nuclear accord that world powers, including the U.S., struck with Iran in 2015.

His decision roiled close U.S. allies, including those in Europe who are seeking to salvage the deal's limits on Tehran's nuclear program, which it accepted for billions of dollars in international sanctions relief.

Trump's meeting will take place during the UN General Assembly, which begins Sept. 18. High-level officials are expected to attend starting Sept. 24, and Trump will convene the meeting two days later.

Haley said the council will convene Friday for a session on the situation in northwestern Syria's Idlib province amid a looming offensive there by the Syrian regime, Russia and Iran.

"We hope that we are stopping something before it starts," Haley said.