Global News Podcast - UN Security Council demands Iran halt attacks

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

At a meeting in New York, the UN Security Council has backed a resolution calling for Iran to stop its strikes on Arab Gulf states and Jordan, but making no mention of the US-Israeli bombardment of Iran. It also condemns the blockade of the crucial Strait of Hormuz. Iran's allies China and Russia abstained from the vote. We also hear why US Democrats are calling for a public hearing into the strikes on Iran - one of which is suspected to have hit a girls' school, causing major loss of life. Also, aid agencies are warning of worsening drought in East Africa, scientists discover that bumblebee queens can breathe underwater and, as the Oscars approach, BBC news correspondents talk about their picks for this year's awards. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

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This is not the future we were promised. Like, how about that for a tagline for the show? From the BBC, this is the interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work. and your politics, your everyday life. And all the bizarre ways people are using the internet.

Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and in the early hours of Thursday, the 12th of March, we bring you the latest on the conflict in the Middle East. The UN Security Council has backed a resolution condemning Iran for its retaliatory strikes in the Gulf, without mentioning the U.S.-Israeli bombing of the country. Democrats in the United States are calling for public hearings on U.S. strikes in Iran,

and Tehran says the men's national football team are not in a position to participate in this year's World Cup. Also in this podcast, Chile's politics pivot to the right, the far right, as the country's new president takes office. And after years of experiencing the impact of watching a horror movie, it doesn't even have to be late at night, it can be during the day. I will go to bed and I will wake up screaming. What to watch or possibly avoid from this year's Oscar picks. At a meeting in New York, the UN Security Council has passed a resolution

demanding that Iran halts its attacks on Gulf nations, but without mentioning the airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel that triggered the war. The resolution was put forward by the six Gulf countries and Jordan. They said over the last 12 days they'd collectively faced nearly a thousand Iranian missile strikes and 2,500 drone attacks. The resolution also condemned Iran's blockade of the crucial strait of Hormuz. Bahrain's ambassador to the UN, Jamal Fálera's Al-Ruaya, said support for the resolution sent a clear message of unity. For the last 12 days, Iranian drones and missiles have been striking innocent civilians and civilian target in GCC countries and Jordan and elsewhere.

This and provoked aggression is a heinous crime. But not all Security Council members supported the resolution. Russia and China, both allies of Iran, abstained. Iran's ambassador to the UN, Amir Syed Irivani, said the resolution was by, and politically motivated and reversed the role of aggressor and victim. This resolution is a manifest injustice against my country, the main victim of a clear act of aggression. It distorts the realities on the ground

and deliberately ignore the root causes of the current crisis. It rewards the regimes of the United States and Israel, which have violated the UN Charter and committed act of aggression. Our UN correspondent, Netta Tofique in New York, has been telling me what the Gulf states and Jordan wanted to achieve with that vote. They said that this Security Council resolution was important to send a message that if you attack your neighbors, that there will be consequences. And that's why we saw this resolution actually get a record number of co-sponsors, 135 countries backed it. Now, in terms of what impact this will have, well, of course, passing a Security Council resolution and enforcing it are two very different things. And, of course, the Iranian government security forces are really already in a battle for their survival.

So I think for many, this was very much a needed resolution for the council to speak. But for those looking to understand how this might change things on the ground, I don't think anyone's under any illusions. that it will change Iran's behavior. It is interesting, though, to bring up the fate of another resolution that failed to pass today, one put forward by Russia. Can you talk us through what happened there and what Russia was trying to achieve? On the Gulf countries' resolution, both Russia and China abstained. And they both gave the same reason.

They said that while they understood the concerns of the Gulf countries, that the resolution didn't fully reflect the root cause and overall picture. of the conflict in a balanced manner. Because the text didn't mention the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, which, remember, the U.N. Secretary General has also deemed a violation of the U.N. charter. And then we also had Russia suggesting that the Gulf countries had allowed their territories to be used to strike Iran. But Bahrain really hit back against that, saying he was sad to hear the Russian ambassador make that claim that their territories were never used to launch attacks. But what we saw from Russia was then an effort to put forward a

competing draft resolution. And it essentially just urged all parties to stop fighting and to return to negotiations. Russia called it a non-confrontational resolution. But that didn't get enough votes in the council. So that failed. When you see these kind of goings on at the UN Security Council. Does it give you any indication of the strength of the UN right now, the power of diplomacy, to try to make any changes in this conflict? You have to remember that this is a place where the convening power of the UN still has some value. You have diplomats getting across the same table, debating these issues, figuring out how to respond. And there's no other place where we can see that happen in real time and get a sense of the dynamics going on. But nevertheless, we have seen just

the Security Council lose so much power, even before President Donald Trump, who has shown a willingness to completely work outside of the council. You know, for example, before he decided to strike Iran along with Israel, he didn't even try to make a case in front of the council. He didn't feel that was at all necessary. So in that sense, we are seeing a weakening of the kind of international system, but people here, especially UN officials, argue it still has value. Neda Tofique in New York. Well, Democrats in the United States are calling for public hearings on military action in Iran, and specifically on the attack on a girls' school in Minab, in southern Iran, which happened right at the start of the war. Iranian officials,

say that assault killed 168 people, most of them girls, between the ages of 7 and 12. President Trump has blamed Iran for the school attack, but hasn't revealed any evidence to back up that claim. General David Petraeus, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA, and commander of U.S. Central Command, told the BBC that U.S. military personnel were probably responsible for that school attack. I do think sadly, tragically, that we probably were the ones. We were the only ones that have Tomahawk missiles in this particular war. And it appears that there may have been some old data when this particular building was part of a larger Iranian naval compound from which it was fenced off some years ago. But tragedy, it does happen in war. Almost every Democrat in the Senate signed the letter, asking if the U.S. military carried out that attack.

They also want to know if the correct protocols were in place to ensure civilians wouldn't be killed. I spoke with our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman, and he started by telling me about the Pentagon's investigation into that school strike in Minab. My sense is it would be being carried out by officials both from its US Central Command in the region, alongside some, but probably not many officials within the Pentagon itself. But beyond that, we just don't have the detail. because every time U.S. officials have been pushed on this, they are saying nothing officially about it other than it is being investigated. And I pushed both Secretary of State Rubio last week about what the administration knows.

The Defence Secretary Pete Hegeseth as well, I asked what the administration knows. And the only answers coming back basically were, we're investigating it and we don't target civilians. It was after that then that President Trump said that he believed that the Iranians carried out the strike on the school, Although he cited no evidence for that, said he believed that they may have had Tomahawk missiles. He's not thought the Iranians have any Tomahawks. And it seems military investigators believe it likely the U.S. carried out this strike, albeit they have not yet come to a conclusion. The U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegeseth, has been asked about whether the U.S. is engaging with the rules of war,

whether they're carrying out appropriate checks before engaging in attacks. What's he been saying when asked those questions? Yeah, and this is one of the questions in the letter from these 46 Democrats in the Senate. Mr. Heggseth talked about the need for lethality. He's appeared to sound quite disparaging about the idea of legality. He's talked in the past about kind of woke policies in the Pentagon that constrain war fighters, as he puts it. And he said in one of the news briefings, there wouldn't be stupid rules of engagement. So that rhetoric has become a focus now for the Democrats who've written this letter,

basically demanding an answer to the question, what provisions were in place to ensure that rules were abided by that are there to prevent the commission of war crimes. Focusing very much on regard for international law that they are implying here has been sort of set aside when it has come to the way that the war has been carried out and these bombing raids on Iranian targets. We haven't had an answer from Mr. Hexeth about that. So how serious is this for the Trump administration? It's a really good question. Because there is a sense among Americans of detachment, I think, often to wars in the Middle East, because they don't feel the sense of insecurity on their own shores at home. But when it becomes an economic issue, then Americans feel it.

So the rise in gas prices, as we're seeing at the moment, is something I think the administration is desperately trying to mitigate. And that is why we're hearing them say repeatedly, you know, this is a short war. We're going to dictate the terms of the way it ends and not the Iranians. Mr Trump repeatedly saying, well, oil prices will come down and fuel prices will be lower in the longer term. And there won't be the threat of a nuclear armed Iran. And that is what he says is the objective here. But at the moment, it's about the potential economic inflationary pressures that they see as being the big issue when it comes to the American public at large.

Tom Bateman in Washington. President Trump has expressed frustration with the war repeatedly. He even at one point suggested ships were being cowardly by not sailing through. the Strait of Hormuz. Now, the New York Times newspaper has reported, based on numerous sources, that the U.S. administration has been taken aback by Iran's response to the attacks on its country. Evan Davis spoke to Mark Mazetti, the New York Times investigations correspondent, and asked him what he discovered.

Well, I think there's been many miscalculations, but one of the significant ones has been assessing what Iran's response to an American and an Iraq. really joint attack would be and underappreciating how much Iran saw this attack as potentially an existential threat to the government in Iran, the regime in Iran. And I think that there were planners, at least in the White House, who thought that, you know, what happened last June, which was the Israelis began strikes and then the U.S. came in for one night of strikes and then it all ended was the model for what would happen again. And clearly, we haven't seen that this time where Iran has, after the initial attack on the Supreme

Leader and the senior leadership, has responded by attacking American bases around the Middle East, by attacking cities in the Middle East, by sort of waging economic warfare, including by shutting down the Straits of Hormuz. So this is a miscalculation by those who thought Iran might just sort of try to end the war and de-escalate like they did the last time. I wonder whether President Trump or those around him have been overly influenced by, I'll use this word carefully, but how easily everything happened in Venezuela. It all went very smoothly from an American point of view. It was almost like a dream. They got rid of Maduro, put in someone quite friendly, controlled Venezuela and release Venezuelan oil. And they might, were they thinking maybe would have that kind of outcome this time? So we've reported that the Venezuela operation was in President Trump's model.

throughout a lot of the planning for this. And that coupled with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, who was also pushing for a joint strike and together thinking that this might be, you know, decapitate the leadership, Iranian people rise up. And this could be a relatively quick and easy operation. Mark Mizetti, a correspondent from the New York Times. times. Now, Iran's men's team has qualified for four consecutive football world cups, including this year's tournament. But with the U.S. and Israel at war with Tehran, the country's

minister of sports said on Wednesday that it's doubtful that Iran will be able to play in the U.S. in June. Afshin Gopi is Tehran born, but currently lives in the Netherlands. He's coached both the U.S. and the Iranian national football teams. He told my colleague Tim Franks that Iranians will be devastated if they miss out on the 26 men's football World Cup. It deeply saddens me, and it's a very personal matter for me, because football has been my life. And for 90 plus million Iranians, football is probably as close to religion as it can get. It's their passion that they are born with, they live with. And the Iranian national team historically has been basically one of the greatest joys of Iranian

people. And having the World Cup come to United States and Mexico and Canada, and with so many Iranians that live in America, especially in Los Angeles, it would have been a great opportunity for the Iranian players and Iran as a country be celebrated the World Cup in front of so many people that have been so far from their country. I can't think of a World Cup which has been staged where one of the host countries is at war with one of the other countries which has qualified for the World Cup. so it would be difficult to see the Iranian team play in the States, wouldn't it? Well, maybe there's another way to look at it. Imagine if FIFA finds a very creative way

to allow a selection of Iranian players which many play abroad and have a neutral organization manage it and allow those players who earn their right to be in the World Cup is basically their life dream to be in the World Cup and how many World Cup does any player ever get a chance to play in in their lifetime. So maybe it's a great moment for FIFA to highlight what they stand for, that sports are always above politics. And I hope that FIFA explores that.

You're in a unique position in that you have coached at the highest levels, both the US national team and the Iranian national team. Can you just give me a sense of what it was like for you to cut across such different sporting cultures and national cultures as well? Well, I've been very fortunate in my life. to commit myself to my passion and to be able to take it literally to the highest level. And I've worked across eight countries. And wherever I've been, I've faced enormous amount of, for lack of better words, racism, prejudice, such as I'm playing a derby in Japan. And an Iwata fan puts a massive banner saying,

Gopi, stop making bombs. When you see that across the world, you try to use your position with love and with understanding and patience to teach people that we're all. all the same, and it doesn't matter where we come from. We deserve respect and dignity, and we should be allowed to have hope and purpose in our lives. And I've tried to live by that. Most Iranians in the last 47 years that have lived abroad or even Iranians within Iran trying to achieve their dreams and go for their goals. I've had massive speed bumps and mountains of obstacles in front of them. And I'm proud to say many Iranians around the world have

been very successful because of just their grits and they're never given up spirit. So that makes me proud. At the same time, it makes me sad. And with this World Cup, I thought it was a great opportunity for all the Iranians around the world to come as won and celebrate the sport of football at the greatest event in the world. Afshin Gordby. Still to come in this podcast, solving an insect mystery. they look very dead when we remove them from the water,

but then it took a few days for them to fully recover and regain activity. Scientists in Canada say they've discovered queen bumblebees have the ability to breathe underwater. This is not the future we were promised. Like, how about that for a tagline for the show? From the BBC, this is The Interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world. This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews. It's about what technology is actually doing to your work and your politics, your everyday life.

And all the bizarre ways people are using the internet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the global news podcast. To Africa's eastern coast now, where aid agencies are warning of worsening drought in several countries, including Somali, Ethiopia, Northern Tanzania, and Kenya. The Kenyan government says more than 3 million people are facing acute hunger because of the drought that's stretched on in some areas for several years.

Children and elderly people are suffering and thousands of livestock are dying from starvation. The BBC's Sami Awami reports from northern Kenya. I visited a family to learn about their experience and I found three women sitting under a tree pounding these wild fruits. The fruits are brown in color and have a rough, lumpy exterior, and each one is about the size of a small feast or a large avocado peat. I was told that these fruits are usually eaten as snacks by grazers

when they are out in the wild tending their animals. But because of hunger, the women told me the fruits have now become their main food, and not just for these family, but for many others in the village. We eat these fruits because of hunger. That is, Regina, a Wutolo Kupu. One of the women I found pounding the fruits. She tells me they have no any other food. There is no food from either the county government or aid organizations.

That's why we have decided to just eat these fruits. We are walking to a house where we've been told. there is a woman who hasn't eaten for more than three days. Hunger has made her so frail that she can neither seat nor speak. Grandma is asleep because she hasn't eaten for three days, and today is a fourth day. The food itself was just little. For this pasturist community, livestock isn't just wealth.

It is essentially live, but many have lost tans of their animals, goats, sheep and camel. Now in search of pasture, many abode men have left home for neighboring countries, such as Uganda and Ethiopia. I have come to a food storage managed by Kenya Red Cross, and here there are offices loading up bags of food onto a track, and soon they will take it to communities who are desperately need of it. So far we have around 200,000 people who are in need of food in the entire five. hotspots sub-counties. Rukia Apubakari is the Turkana County coordinator of Kenya Red Cross. She says Red Cross has been distributing food to the most vulnerable families,

but needs are growing faster than the food arriving. We have small which we cannot reach the whole population. So that's why we are saying if we can get more partners, more fundraising, well-wishers to come and support. Other actors such as World Vision Kenya and World Food Programme have also been providing food assistance to vulnerable families. The government is also said to start distributing food for people and animals in counties which have been affected the most. While rains have finally started in the most parts of the country, including areas that have endured prolonged drought,

officials warn that relief will not come immediately. Families will still need food assistance and pastures need time to grow. Jacob Letocero is an assistant director for national draft management authority. I believe what we are receiving now could be off-season rains and may not have instant impact to livestock or to water availability. So it's not something

worth celebrating at this point. Back in the village, both people and animals continue to rely on these wild fruits. One can say it's a sign of resilience, but it's also a sign of desperation for these communities. Until the land recovers, the fruits will likely remain

the main meal that many here will depend on. Sammy Awami in Kenya. Let's go to Chile now, a country that moved from dictatorship to democracy in the 1990s. On Wednesday, Chile marked its biggest shift to the right since that time. Jose Antonio Cast has just been sworn in as president, and in his first speech to the nation, he promised sweeping changes in many areas. To confront these emergencies in security, health, education, employment,

and so many others. Chile needs an emergency government. It's not a slogan. The new president defeated his leftist opponent in a resounding victory last December by promising to take a tough approach to crime and illegal immigration. So who is Jose Antonio cast?

And what can we expect from him? Nyara Bash is Chile correspondent for the Associated Press. Chile nowadays is very different from four years ago. when Kass also ran for presidents and was defeated by outgoing president Gabriel Borit, Kast got almost 60% of voters in a country that has been hit by a rise in organized crime and also disappointed by the great expectation of Borets administration. So during the campaign, Kass has prized the crime fighting tactics of the president of El Salvador, Najib Buckele,

and also some policies adopted. by the Trump administration. Among his promises, he has vowed to criminalize illegal immigration, intensify mass deportations, and install fences or walls along Chile's border. He's socially conservative and his discourse and his opposition against the same-sex marriage or the legal abortion and also some sort of sympathy towards the dictatorship that took place in Chile between 1973 and 1990 day. I would say Chile's society is more worried about the current problems such as the security crisis and illegal immigration that has largely shaped the country in the last four or five years rather than the social agenda or discussions about the past. I've talked to some experts who

had points out that the first country days are going to be key to determine if he's, you know, the main projects can come through or not. Nayar Banch, Chile correspondent for the Associated Press. In Europe, North America and parts of Asia, this is the time of year when the first bumblebees appear after spending the cold months hunkering down in shallow boroughs, hibernating. But many experts have wondered how these insects can survive a wet winter,

especially one that involves flooding. Well, scientists in Canada have accidentally discovered that bumblebee queens can breathe underwater. Here's Michael Davenry. Any apiarist will tell you that the humble bumblebee is far from a household pest. We now know that they don't just pollinate our plants and crops, but can solve puzzles and teach each other complex tasks. This study, published in the Royal Society's main research journal,

tells us that they are also incredibly resilient. It found bumblebee queens can survive a winter deluge caused by heavy rain or melting snow through diapause, which is a form of hibernation that drastically reduces their bodily functions and by breathing traces of air trapped in their bodies. Dr Sabrina Rondo from the University of Ottawa said the discovery was an accident coming after she discovered condensation in a fridge where her hibernating specimens were kept. Their test tubes were full of water and she thought they'd drowned. They look very dead when we removed them from the water, but then it took

a few days for them to fully recover and regain activity. That led to a more controlled study, which led the team to discover the bumblebee queens were quite literally breathing underwater. They consumed oxygen and, in its place, produced carbon dioxide. If the ground suddenly fills with water, we know that they are able to survive and they do this while breathing, so while exchanging gas on their water, for up to at least seven days. We still don't know what effect breathing underwater has on the bees' lifespan

and whether they can reproduce afterwards, for example. But it nonetheless sheds light on something of an ecological mystery. Michael Davenry. And last, don't forget that this Sunday, it's the Oscars. The great and the good from the world of entertainment will be sashaying down the red carpet in Los Angeles. And beyond Hollywood, the Academy Awards have become global guessing game, with movie fans trying to predict who will win each category.

Talking movies Tom Brooke has been asking some of the BBC's top news correspondents about their Oscar favorites. BBC colleagues often want to talk to me about the films they like. Sometimes I'm startled by their preferences. Some breaking news in the last few minutes. Take Nomair Iqbal, a steady measured presence on the air, currently a presenter on the news channel, who are news. she was a huge fan of horror. It sounds really weird when you say to people, you're really into horror movies, because they think there's something strange about you.

When I'm watching a horror movie, I can't think of anything else. It's like, it's almost relieves all the stress that's going on in my actual life. So no surprises, then, that Nomiah Iqbal likes sinners, the Oscars frontrunner, in that it has accrued a record number of nominations.

It's a horror film that's a hybrid, It's also an historical drama with supernatural elements. I love sinners. I love the way that horror is being used to talk almost about social issues. And I just loved it. I've seen it more than once now. Let me bring in Tom Brook. A continent away in Los Angeles, Peter Bowes will be presenting the BBC's news coverage

during the Oscar ceremony, as he has for several years. Unlike Nomir Iqbal, he can't stomach horror. After years of experiencing the... impact of watching a scary movie, a horror movie. It doesn't even have to be late at night. It can be during the day. I will go to bed and I will wake up screaming. So he'll be rooting for the Oscar-nominated Marty Supreme, in which Timothy Shalamee plays a driven table tennis player in 1950s, New York. I'm telling you this game at Phil Stadium's overseas.

And it's only a matter of time before I'm staring at you from the cover of a Wheaties box. It is pure escapism. It took me into a world that is championship table tennis that I knew very little about, and it is a film full of suspense. A political thriller shot in secret in Tehran, it was just an accident, is also in the running for an Oscar. Put together by dissident Iranian filmmaker Jaffa Panahy. His cinema has many admirers, among them the BBC's chief international correspondent, Lise Doucette.

It's not subtle. It's very blunt. Mujavez are you? Mujave. Something about that film, I still think about it to this day. I've come to believe that good things can come out of bad, and Iranian cinema is a testament to that, an extraordinarily distinctive and achingly beautiful tradition of cinema, which comes out of the harshest of rules that they've had to dance around.

New York-based BBC North America correspondent, Neda Torfique routinely reports from the front lines on news developments that provoke intense debate. When she and her husband watched the Oscar-nominated one battle after another, an action thriller laden with social and political satire, a mirror of sorts to contemporary America, it really engaged her. It just touched on so many flashpoints. Steve Lockhart used to attack my home. People deciding to kind of fight back against what they see is this militarized force,

hurting people that they believe our neighbors. Maybe you should have studied the rebellion text a little harder. You see a lot of those themes in one battle after another. And one battle after another appears to be resonating with Oscar voters too. It's being widely predicted that it will take home some top Academy Awards, including Best Director and Quite Possibly Best Picture. Tom Brooke. And that's all from us for now.

If you want to get in touch, you can eat. Email us at Global Podcast at BBC.co.com. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. And don't forget our sister podcast, The Global Story, which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the Global News podcast was mixed by Derek Clark. And the producer was Rebecca Wood.

The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Celia Hatton. Until next time, goodbye.