Guterres Warns Middle East War Is ‘Out of Control,’ Names Envoy as UN Pushes for Diplomacy
- Mar 26
- 3 min read
By: ATN News Team
UNHQ, New York: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday delivered one of his starkest warnings yet on the Middle East crisis, saying the war is now “out of control” and threatening a wider regional conflict, mounting civilian suffering and a deepening shock to the global economy.
Speaking to reporters at the Security Council stakeout on March 25, Guterres said the conflict had moved beyond limits “even leaders thought unimaginable” and urged all sides to abandon escalation and return to diplomacy and international law. He said several initiatives for dialogue are already underway and insisted they “must succeed.”
In a notable move, Guterres announced the appointment of Jean Arnault as his Personal Envoy to lead UN efforts on the conflict and its consequences. He said Arnault will work more directly on the ground to support mediation, maintain contact with the parties and address the broader fallout of the war, including civilian suffering and the economic damage spreading far beyond the region.
Guterres directed separate messages to the main actors.
To the United States and Israel, he said it is “high time to end the war” as casualties rise and the humanitarian and economic costs grow more severe. To Iran, he said it must stop attacking neighboring states that are not party to the conflict. He also pointed to the Security Council’s condemnation of those attacks and its demand that they cease.
The Secretary-General placed particular emphasis on the Strait of Hormuz, warning that its prolonged closure is choking the movement of oil, gas and fertilizer at a critical moment in the global planting season. That, he suggested, is not just a regional security problem but the kind of crisis that quickly lands on dinner tables in poorer countries.
Pressed on what the war means for the UN development agenda, Guterres drew a direct line between the conflict and rising risks of hunger, inflation and deeper poverty. He noted that Gulf states are major suppliers of raw materials used in nitrogen fertilizers and warned that supply disruption now could mean food insecurity later. Higher oil and gas prices, he added, are already straining indebted developing countries least able to absorb another economic blow.
Guterres also widened the lens to Lebanon, referencing his recent visit there and calling for an end to cross-border violence. He said Hezbollah must stop launching attacks into Israel and Israel must halt military operations and strikes in Lebanon that are hitting civilians hardest. “The Gaza model must not be replicated in Lebanon,” he said.
When asked about Iran’s rejection of a U.S. proposal and President Donald Trump’s deployment of thousands more troops to the region, Guterres declined to predict how long the crisis could continue, but repeated that diplomacy remains the only viable exit. He said mediators are actively engaged and voiced hope that the parties can still find a way to end what he described as a conflict whose consequences are “absolutely devastating.”
The message from the UN chief was blunt and unusually stripped down: war is not solving this crisis, and the bill is spreading well beyond the battlefield. In Guterres’s framing, the real choice now is between a diplomatic off-ramp and a wider disaster.