By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UN chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday hailed the ceasefire announcement between Iran and Israel which was announced on social media overnight by US President Donald Trump.
Mr. Guterres noted that both sides had confirmed that a ceasefire was in place early Tuesday and both sides exchanged fire, with Tehran residents stated they had experienced a heavy barrage of attacks.
President Trump expressed his frustration at the breaches of the fragile ceasefire agreement, urging Iran and Israel to observe the truce before leaving Washington for a NATO summit in Europe.
Guterres on a social media post urged both countries to fully respect the ceasefire.
“The fighting must stop. The people of the two countries have already suffered too much,” he said.
He added that it was his “sincere hope” that the ceasefire can extend to other parts of the region.
“It is my sincere hope that this ceasefire can be replicated in the other conflicts in the region,” he concluded.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi stressed the need for strong new nuclear deal
Grossi urged Tehran to consider “resuming cooperation” with the international community to quell any lingering hostility around its nuclear programme.
“Resuming cooperation with [the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA is key to a successful agreement,” said Rafael Grossi.
Mr. Grossi posted on social media X added that he had offered to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on working together “stressed this step can lead to a diplomatic solution to the long-standing controversy” over Iran’s nuclear programme.
UN human rights office, OHCHR, insisted that a notorious Tehran prison known for holding dissidents should not be a target, a day after a reported Israeli strike on the complex.
OHCHR spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said that Evin prison is not a military objective, according to the laws of war.
“Targeting it constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law”, he said.
OHCHR does not have specific details about what the alleged attack Mr. Al- Kheetan said, but there have reportedly been fired inside the prison and a number of injuries.
An updated casualty count from the Iranian authorities indicated that 610 people have been killed including 49 women and 13 children since 13 June.
The number includes two pregnant women and one infant along with 4,746 injured, including 185 women and 65 minors.
Iranian health authorities said that 7 hospitals, four health units and six emergency bases and nine ambulances have been damaged.
Some 28 Israeli citizens have been killed by Iranian missile strikes to date.
Mr Al-Kheetan insisted that political prisoners including journalists are held at Evin prison, but whether they are detained “arbitrarily” or in connection with “crimes they’ve actually committed”, the inmates must be protected.
According to media reports, Iran said that it transferred all the inmates out of the prison after it was hit by an Israeli strike, moved them to other prisons around the capital in order to repair damage.
A fragile ceasefire proposed by the United States seemed to take hold briefly on Tuesday morning, before reports of Iranian missile strikes on Israel, disputed by Tehran
Israeli air attacks began on 13 June and escalated over the weekend with US forces striking Iranian nuclear facilities.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes, while Iran’s retaliatory strikes killed close to 30 people in Israel.
OHCHR spokesperson stressed that it was “difficult to verify information” coming from Iran, given the lack of access.
He confirmed seeing reports about Iranians being “arrested for cyber activities and publishing content related to the Israeli attacks on Iran, according to NGOs”.
Mr. Al-Kheetan spoke of reports that nine men have been executed in Iran since Israel attacked the country on 13 June.
He called on the Iranian authorities to “completely respect the rights to freedom of expression and information, at all times”, insisting that journalists “must be able to do their work without any obstacles”.
Iranian citizens arrested and accused of espionage or collaboration with Israel “must have their full rights in terms of legal procedures and a fair trial”, he said.
“If these arrests are arbitrary, those persons must be freed immediately and unconditionally,” he concluded.
The independent human rights experts reiterated their concerns about Iran’s “use of broadly defined national security offences, some of which are punishable by death”, in the context of recent reported executions on espionage charges.
UN deputy human rights chief, Nada Al-Nashif, told the Human Rights Council that at least 975 people were executed in Iran last year the highest number of reported executions since 2015.
She briefed the Council on the use of torture in Iranian prisons and the ongoing targeting of minorities, journalists and human rights defenders.
