UN Officials Warn Iran Conflict Risks Becoming Wider Crisis

US attack on Iran in Operation Epic Fury. (Twitter/@CENTCOM)

JAKARTA - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday warned that the escalating conflict involving Iran risks turning into a wider crisis, saying "we cannot return to war as a tool of international relations."

In a video message for the Human Rights Council's Urgent Debate on Iran in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday, Volker Turk said the situation was "very dangerous and unpredictable," with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence across the region.

Referring to the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, as well as Iran's attacks on Gulf countries and Jordan, Turk stressed that many attacks in the conflict raised "serious concerns under international law, which prohibits attacks targeting civilians and their infrastructure as well as attacks on military targets where civilian casualties are disproportionate," Anadolu reported (26/3).

Turk also warned of wider regional consequences, saying the conflict had "serious repercussions" for countries, including Iraq and Syria, as well as the occupied Palestinian territories.

"This conflict is also disrupting global supply chains," he said, with shipments through the Strait of Hormuz affected, raising the risk of food and energy crises around the world.

According to Turk, attacks on civilian infrastructure raise "serious concerns under international law," stressing that deliberate attacks on civilians can constitute war crimes.

"This conflict has an unprecedented power to entangle countries across borders and around the world," Turk said, adding: "The only guaranteed way to prevent this is to end the conflict."

Urging countries to uphold the rules-based order, Turk said: "When some powerful countries try to weaken the multilateral system, we need the rest - most of them - to defend the system."

"We cannot return to war as a tool of international relations," he concluded.

It is known that the US and Israel launched air raids against Iran in a campaign called Operation Epic Fury (US version) or Operation Roaring Lion (Israeli version) since February 28, which has so far killed more than 1,340 people, including the then Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

The Mullah's country retaliated with drone and missile attacks targeting Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, causing casualties and infrastructure damage and disrupting global markets and flights.