Guterres warns global cooperation is 'on deathwatch' ahead of UNSC meeting on Iran
In his final annual address, UN chief Antonio Guterres decries breaches of international law, aid cuts and geopolitical paralysis, while voicing alarm over Iran and calling for action on Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has issued a stark warning to world leaders, saying international cooperation is being pushed “onto deathwatch” by widening geopolitical rifts, violations of international law and sharp cuts to humanitarian aid.
Delivering his last annual priorities speech before stepping down in 2026, Guterres told the General Assembly on Thursday that the world is increasingly fractured by “self-defeating geopolitical divides” that are undermining multilateralism at a moment of acute global need.
“At a time when we need international cooperation the most, we seem to be the least inclined to use it and invest in it,” he said, adding that some governments are actively working to weaken the system.
Countries cutting aid UN agencies
Without naming countries, Guterres criticised “wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid,” an apparent reference to funding reductions affecting UN agencies, and warned that such moves are shaking the foundations of global cooperation.
The UN chief said he remained “deeply concerned about the violent repression in Iran,” ahead of an emergency Security Council meeting later on Thursday, and underscored the UN’s commitment to seeking peace in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.
Calling for humanitarian aid to flow freely into Gaza, Guterres urged renewed efforts to halt the war in Ukraine and pressed for the resumption of talks aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire in Sudan.
He acknowledged that protracted conflicts and Security Council paralysis — driven by divisions among its veto-wielding permanent members — have fueled criticism of the UN’s effectiveness, but insisted the organisation remains indispensable.
“As we meet today, millions are trapped in cycles of violence, hunger and displacement,” he said, also urging global action to regulate artificial intelligence and confront widening inequality.