New York, 25 March 2026 – Citing diplomacy as the only way to end of the escalating war in the Middle East, the United Nations chief appointed a seasoned French diplomat to lead the world organization’s efforts “on the conflict and its consequences.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed French diplomat Jean Arnault as his personal envoy who will work “more directly on the ground to support all the efforts for mediation, all the efforts for peace” by engaging will parties in the conflict and assessing its consequences.
“The conflict has broken past the limits even leaders thought imaginable,” Guterres said at UN Headquarters about the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran which exploded on February 28 this year.
“More than three weeks on, this war is out of control,” he said. “The world is staring down the barrel of a wider war, a rising tide of human suffering, and a deeper global economic shock. This has gone too far. It is time to stop climbing the escalation ladder – and start climbing the diplomatic ladder and return to full respect of international law.”
He urged the US and Israel to end the war “as human suffering deepens, civilian casualties mount, and the global economic impact is increasingly devastating,” and for Iran “to stop attacking their neighbors.”
Guterres pointed out that the UN Security Council has condemned and demanded an end to the attacks and called for respect of navigational rights and freedoms around critical maritime routes such as the Strait of Hormuz.
Turning to Lebanon, where he recently visited and launched an appeal for humanitarian assistance for the population, Guterres said the war there must also stop. He said, “Hezbollah must stop launching attacks into Israel. And Israel must stop its military operations and strikes in Lebanon, which are hitting civilians the hardest. The Gaza model must not be replicated in Lebanon.”
The escalating Middle East war has impacted on the global economy, constrained humanitarian operations and severely affected people who are not responsible for it and who are “the poorest, the most vulnerable, the least able to absorb yet another blow.”
A short biography of Arnault provided by the UN says the French diplomat has had nearly 40 years of experience in international diplomacy, focused on peace settlements and mediation, and an extensive background leading United Nations missions in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
His most recent assignments include his service — between 2015 and 2018 — as Delegate of the Secretary-General to the Colombia peace talks and then as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Colombia, when he led UN efforts to verify the implementation of the 2016 Final Peace Agreement in that country. From 2019 to 2020, he was the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Bolivia. In 2021, he was named the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Afghanistan and Regional Issues.
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