Washington: US President Donald Trump on Thursday urged United Nations Security Council members to address shared security threats and promote religious liberty across the globe.
"Our nations face a range of shared security threats, including terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal migration, cyberattack, and the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons," Trump said in his luncheon meeting with the Permanent Representatives of the UN Security Council.
The US holds the monthly rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for December.
"We are working very hard on those problems, especially the last three. There can be nothing more important. The Council must take action to confront these and other dangers facing the world," Trump said at the top of the luncheon at the White House.
"That also includes the behaviour of the Iranian regime, which has killed hundreds and hundreds of people in a very short period of time. They're killing protestors. They turned down their Internet system. People aren't hearing what's going on," he said.
Trump also called on Security Council members to join the United States in "our vital efforts to promote religious liberty" around the globe.
"The world is more secure when people have the right to follow their convictions and to worship in peace. We have been very strong on that."
Trump said it is a horrible situation in Iran and urged the media to get involved by going there and seeing what's happening.
"It's something that is going to be a big scandal throughout the world very soon. They're killing a lot of people. And they're arresting thousands of their own citizens in a brutal crackdown in recent weeks because they're protesting. I think the media should get involved in that. I don't know that they will because they have their own reasons, but the media should absolutely get involved in that," he said.
America will always stand with the Iranian people in their righteous struggle for freedom, Trump said, and added that the Iranian situation could be fixed "very quickly and very easily".
Trump urged the UNSC Permanent Representatives to work together to address global challenges from denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and peace talks in Afghanistan, the White House said in a readout from the meeting.
Trump also encouraged the Permanent Representatives to take action to confront malign actors threatening global security and prosperity.
"While the United Nations has tremendous potential, the President reminded the Permanent Representatives that each county must do its part to fulfill the UNSC's mandate to maintain international peace and security," the White House said.
In his brief remarks, the Chinese Ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun said that the Security Council is entrusted with a huge mandate in maintaining peace and security.
"For that purpose, it needs our cooperation, needs our unity. And we are happy to see that (US Ambassador to the UN) Kelly Craft is leading us in December," he said.
"It's our really common responsibility to work together, to stay united, to make the United Nations strong, and to maintain world peace and promote security and development," the Chinese envoy said.
Christoph Heusgen, the Germany envoy to the UN, said, "Germany is chairing the Sanctions Committee on North Korea, where we believe that the UN plays a very important role to keep the sanctions in place to make the policy that you conduct on North Korea a successful one.
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