UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres lashed out on Thursday at world leaders who he said were seeking to “put international cooperation on deathwatch” amid brazen violations of international law, but held off naming offending countries.

He also reiterated that he was “deeply concerned about the violent repression in Iran,” ahead of an emergency Security Council meeting on the crisis scheduled for later Thursday.

Guterres, who will step down at the end of 2026, was giving his last annual speech setting out his priorities for the year ahead and said the world was riven with “self-defeating geopolitical divides (and) brazen violations of international law.” He also slammed “wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid” — an apparent reference to deep cuts to the budgets of UN agencies made by the United States under the Trump administration’s “America First” policies.

“These forces and more are shaking the foundations of global cooperation and testing the resilience of multilateralism itself,” Guterres told the General Assembly.

“At a time when we need international cooperation the most, we seem to be the least inclined to use it and invest in it. Some seek to put international cooperation on deathwatch.” Guterres said the UN is “totally committed in the cause of peace in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and far beyond and tireless in delivering life-saving aid to those so desperate for support.” Those three deadly, protracted conflicts have come to define Guterres’s time at the helm of the UN, with critics arguing the organisation has proved ineffective at conflict prevention.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2026