Waltz Confronts Iranian Diplomat at UN Over Drone Strikes on Bahrain, Kuwait

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz sharply rebuked Iran during this week’s U.N. Security Council session, warning Tehran that it “will not silence” the council after Iran’s representative accused members of spreading false claims about its recent attack on neighboring Gulf states.

“Let me remind you where you are,” Waltz told Iranian diplomat Amir Saeid Iravani. “This is the United States of America. This is the United Nations Security Council. You will not silence this body.”

The exchange unfolded during an emergency Security Council meeting convened after drone and missile strikes targeted Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday, following a new round of U.S. airstrikes against Iran.

In his address to the council, Iravani challenged the need for the meeting and accused the United States, Bahrain and other member states of making false statements.

“Once again, the representative of the United States has resorted to lies and disinformation against Iran in a desperate attempt to justify the US’s unlawful acts of aggression,” Iravani said.

Iravani also dismissed what he described as “unfounded accusations” from some Western council members and Bahrain’s representative.

“Instead of addressing the root cause of the current crisis, they have ignored the unlawful aggression committed against Iran and sought to shift blame onto the victim,” he added. “Their double standards and hypocritical behavior have deprived them of any credibility to lecture others.”

In a post on X, Waltz reiterated his position.

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“Iran will not silence us on our own soil,” he wrote. “That might work in Tehran, but not in the UN Security Council. We will tell the truth.”

During the exchange, Waltz held up what he said were images of the aftermath of the Iranian attacks, including a family whose home in Bahrain was destroyed by a Shahed drone, a hotel full of tourists that was also hit and a building used by first responders that Waltz said was deliberately targeted.

“Are they lying?” Waltz said of the victims of the attack. “Is this hypocrisy? Is this what this council is here to denounce today? I ask the representative, are these lies? … I’d say not.”

Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Bahrain’s minister of foreign affairs, said that, since Feb. 28, the island nation has been subjected to 808 attacks comprising 203 ballistic missiles and 605 armed drones.

“These attacks deliberately targeted civilian facilities, critical infrastructure and residential areas, resulting in the deaths of three innocent civilians and injuries to 465 others,” he said, disputing Tehran’s claim that its aggression is directed solely against military objectives.

Washington and Tehran have repeatedly accused each other of violating a fragile ceasefire agreement. On June 27, President Donald Trump said U.S. forces struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites after Iran violated the deal.

The exchanges of fire began when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off Oman last week and the U.S. military retaliated, officials said.

“It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”