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Waltz Defends the Strikes on Iran at an Emergency UN Security Council Meeting, Feb. 28, 2026

February 28, 2026 · C-SPAN · 0:07:29

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz addressed an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on February 28, 2026, defending the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. C-SPAN carried his remarks. “This is a moment in history that requires moral clarity and President Trump has met the moment,” Waltz said, according to C-SPAN’s summary. He argued that the international community has long affirmed that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and that “history has taught us that the cost of inaction is far greater than the burden of decisive action,” per the same summary. Iran’s representative and other Council members criticized the strikes as a violation of international law, as reported from the meeting.

Why it matters

Waltz’s emergency-session statement is the administration’s legal and moral case for the Iran strikes made in the world’s most contested chamber — the record against which allied and adversarial responses at the United Nations are tracked on this site.

Scoreboard watch

This is a candidate item for the weekly scoreboard: the administration’s stated basis for the February 2026 Iran strikes, as placed on the Security Council record by Ambassador Waltz — Iran’s nuclear program and the cost-of-inaction argument — to be checked against subsequent developments.

Sources: UN Security Council emergency meeting, February 28, 2026 (Ambassador Waltz’s remarks as carried by C-SPAN, embedded above). All characterizations as stated by Ambassador Waltz and Council members at the meeting.