“The council members urge concerned parties and all countries in the region to exercise maximum restraint and take measures and actions to reduce escalation and end tension,” Kuwait’s UN ambassador, Mansour Al-Otaibi, said in a statement following a Security Council meeting.
While the council condemned the attacks on the oil tankers it did not blame Iran for the attacks as US and some of its Arab allies had claimed.
The Security Council was meeting at the request of the United States after Iran last week shot down a US spy drone that had ventured into Iran’s airspace.
Germany’s Ambassador Christoph Heusgen read out a statement on behalf of Germany, the United Kingdom and France and called for calm. “These developments risk miscalculation and conflict. We call for de-escalation and dialogue, with full respect for international rules.”