Iran's Pezeshkian slams UN ineffectiveness to tackle Middle East conflict

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday condemned the 15-nation United Nations Security Council for failing to tackle the Middle East conflict.

"The fire of war is still raging in the Palestinian Gaza Strip and Lebanese cities," Pezeshkian told leaders from emerging economies at the BRICS summit in Russia.

"And international institutions... topped by the United Nations Security Council — who are drivers of international peace and security — lack the necessary efficiency to extinguish the fire of this crisis."

Pezeshkian condemned Israel for violating "the red lines" of different states and "producing a new wave of violence and terror".

Since the start of the war in Gaza, the Islamic republic has criticised the UN body for being inactive and ineffective in ending conflict in the Middle East.

Iran is engaged in an intense diplomatic campaign to establish ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon.

The efforts are also aimed at preventing the conflict from expanding across the region after Israel's threat to retaliate to an attack by Iran on October 1.

Tehran said the attack was in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, which killed an Iranian general and the head of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, late September.

Iran supports Hezbollah and the Palestinian movement Hamas, whose militant groups are fighting Israel.

For his part, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei turned to social media to criticise the UN for turning "into a frustratingly dysfunctional platform".