Western democracies, including the UK, France, Canada and Australia, are facing backlash after allowing Iran and other authoritarian regimes to secure seats on influential United Nations (U.N.) bodies, with the United States standing alone in opposition.

The controversy stems from decisions by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), a 54-member body that plays a central role in shaping U.N. policy and staffing key committees.

Critics warn the outcome could allow governments accused of human rights abuses to influence global policy and control which civil society groups are granted access to the United Nations.

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ECOSOC nominated the Islamic Republic of Iran to the U.N.’s Committee for Program and Coordination Wednesday, a body that helps shape policy on human rights, women’s rights, disarmament and counterterrorism.

The nomination is widely expected to be finalized, as the United Nations General Assembly typically approves such recommendations without a vote.

At the same session, ECOSOC elected China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia and Sudan to the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, which oversees accreditation and access for thousands of NGOs operating within the U.N. system.

The United States was the only member state to formally break from consensus.

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In remarks delivered April 8, U.S. Representative to ECOSOC Ambassador Dan Negrea said the U.S. "disassociates from consensus" on both decisions, calling several of the countries involved unfit for such roles.

"The regime threatens its neighbors and has, for decades, infringed on the Iranian people’s ability to exercise their basic human rights," Negrea said, adding that "we believe Iran is unfit to serve" on the committee.

The decision drew sharp criticism from UN Watch, a Geneva-based watchdog group.

Hillel Neuer told Fox News Digital: "By their cynical actions at the UN, major Western states have betrayed their own human rights principles, severely undermining the rules-based international order that they claim to support."

"We note that the EU states clearly had another option. They did take action in recent years to stop Russia from getting elected to similar bodies, and so we deeply regret that they failed to do the same now to stop the election of serial violators such as Iran, China, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia and Sudan."

"We salute the United States for their moral clarity and leadership in objecting to the election of the Islamic Republic of Iran and other brutal regimes."

Neuer warned the composition of the NGO committee could allow authoritarian governments to influence which organizations are accredited, potentially sidelining independent human rights groups.

"This means dictatorships will have a majority on the committee in order to deny United Nations accreditation to independent organizations that call out their human rights violations, and to accredit more fake front groups created by the regimes," he said.

Israel’s mission to the United Nations also pointed to political tensions surrounding the vote, saying Iran attempted to challenge Israel’s candidacy during the same ECOSOC session.

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Israel was elected to several U.N. bodies, according to the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations, including the Commission on the Status of Women and the NGO Committee, despite opposition.

"Iran also tried to turn the elections at the UN into an arena for incitement against Israel and failed," Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said. "Those who oppress women and trample on human rights in their own country will not teach us what women's rights are."

Ahead of the vote, around 70 civil society groups warned that countries with poor human rights records could secure seats on key oversight bodies, but the elections proceeded without a formal vote, a process known as approval "by acclamation."

Critics argue that this procedure allows controversial candidates to secure influential roles with limited transparency or accountability.

The developments are likely to intensify scrutiny over how U.N. bodies are staffed and whether political considerations are outweighing human rights concerns.

Fox News Digital reached out to the UK, France, Canada, Australia and U.S. mission for comment but did not receive responses in time for publication.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations declined to comment.

Pope Leo in a Saturday vigil for peace, called out the "delusion of omnipotence" he claimed is fueling war.

"In prayer, our limited human possibilities are joined to the infinite possibilities of God. Thoughts, words and deeds then break the demonic cycle of evil and are placed at the service of the Kingdom of God," he said in a prayer service at St. Peter’s Basilica.

He continued, "A Kingdom in which there is no sword, no drone, no vengeance, no trivialization of evil, no unjust profit, but only dignity, understanding and forgiveness. It is here that we find a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive."

In posts on X and during the prayer vigil, the pontiff also warned that war "divides" while hope and faith unite humanity.

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"Enough of the idolatry of self and money. Enough of the display of power. Enough of war," he wrote. "True strength is shown in serving life."

The archbishop of Tehran, Belgian Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu, was among those in the pews.

Leo’s words came on the same day Vice President JD Vance and a U.S. delegation began face-to-face talks with Iran amid an uneasy ceasefire.

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They were some of the first American pontiff’s strongest words yet after he called President Donald Trump’s threat against Iran on Tuesday "truly unacceptable."  

"Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran, and this is truly unacceptable," the pope said earlier this week. "There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more so a moral issue for the good of the whole entire population."

Trump had written on Truth Social "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will... God Bless the Great People of Iran!"

Hours later, the president announced a two-week ceasefire subject to Iran agreeing to "the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz," the president wrote in another post.

As the high-stakes talks began on Saturday in Islamabad, Trump told reporters outside the White House: "We win regardless of what happens. Maybe they make a deal, maybe they don’t."

For more than a month, the pope limited his remarks to muted appeals for peace, but in his Easter blessing last Sunday, he urged "those with weapons lay them down. Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace."

Leo also invoked what he said were the final words that Pope Francis issued to the world from the same balcony one year ago, during which the late pontiff warned of a "globalization of indifference."

"What a great thirst for death, for killing we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of the world," Leo said, quoting Francis.

Fox News' Jasmine Baehr and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The United Nations’ shipping agency warned Thursday that imposing a toll on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz would "set a dangerous precedent." 

The remark comes after President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that there may be a U.S.-Iranian toll system coming for ships that travel through the key waterway. Trump told ABC News, "We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture," and, "It’s a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people." 

"There is no international agreement where tolls can be introduced for transiting international straits. Any such toll will set a dangerous precedent," a ‌spokesperson ⁠for the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization told Reuters on Thursday. 

The Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, is one of the world’s most critical energy choke points, carrying roughly 20 million barrels of oil a day along with about one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas.

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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also warned on Wednesday that a reported Iranian plan to charge ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz would be "completely unacceptable." 

"I don’t think that the international community would be ready to accept Iran setting up a toll booth for every ship that crosses the strait," Mitsotakis, representing the world's leading shipping power, told CNN. 

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"This agreement cannot, I repeat, cannot include a sort of a fee that ships will have to pay every time they cross the strait," he continued. "This was not the case before the war started, and it cannot be the case after the war finishes." 

The Trump administration had reached a ceasefire deal with Iran on Tuesday.

 "The United States of America will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz. There will be lots of positive action! Big money will be made. Iran can start the reconstruction process," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. "We’ll be loading up with supplies of all kinds, and just ‘hangin’ around’ in order to make sure that everything goes well. I feel confident that it will." 

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias and Alexandra Koch contributed to this report. 

Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution Tuesday aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, just hours before President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to cease threatening the key waterway. 

Trump has given Iran until 8 p.m. ET to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes against its power plants and bridges on Tuesday. The resolution received 11 votes in favor and two against, with abstentions from Pakistan and Colombia. 

"No one should tolerate that they are holding the global economy at gunpoint, but today, Russia and China did tolerate," U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz said Tuesday. "They sided with a regime that seeks to intimidate the Gulf into submission, even as it brutalizes its own people during a national internet blackout for daring to imagine dignity or freedom."

"Failing to adopt this resolution sends the wrong signal to the world, to the people of the world — the signal that the threat to international waterways can pass without any decisive action by the international organization responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security," Bahrain’s foreign minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, added following the vote. 

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The vetoed resolution, which was introduced by Bahrain, "strongly encourages states interested in the use of commercial maritime routes in the Strait of Hormuz to coordinate efforts, defensive in nature, commensurate with the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation across the Strait of Hormuz."

The resolution also demanded that Iran immediately halt attacks on merchant and commercial vessels and stop impeding their freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and attacking civilian infrastructure. 

The language of the resolution was significantly weakened to try to get Russia and China to abstain rather than veto it, according to The Associated Press. 

The initial Gulf proposal would have authorized countries to use "all necessary means" — U.N. wording that would include military action — to ensure transit through the Strait of Hormuz and deter attempts to close it.

WHY THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ MATTERS AS TRUMP ISSUES FRESH ULTIMATUM TO IRAN

After Russia, China and France, all veto-wielding countries on the 15-member Security Council, expressed opposition to approving the use of force, the resolution was revised to eliminate all references to offensive action. It would have authorized only "all defensive means necessary." A vote had been expected on Saturday. 

But instead, the resolution was further weakened to eliminate any reference to Security Council authorization — which is an order for action — and limit its provisions to the Strait of Hormuz. Previous drafts had included adjacent waters. 

"Let me be clear — this text would only embolden the United States and the Israeli regime to continue in their unlawful actions and atrocious crime, while shielding from accountability," Iran's ambassador to the U.N., Amir Saeid Iravani, said following the vote.

"The Iranian regime has until 8 p.m. Eastern Time to meet the moment and make a deal with the United States," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Tuesday. "Only the president knows where things stand and what he will do." 

Fox News’ Patrick Ward, Anders Hagstrom and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The United States stood alone at the United Nations in early March after a European-led procedural move blocked a vote on defining gender in biological terms at one of the world’s leading forums on women’s rights.

At the conclusion of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, the U.S. was the only country to oppose the body’s annual "Agreed Conclusions," citing concerns that the language departs from biological definitions of women and girls. No other member state voted with the United States.

At the center of the dispute is how the United Nations defines "gender." Current U.N. frameworks, rooted in the 1995 Beijing Declaration, do not provide a fixed definition and instead rely on evolving interpretations tied to broader concepts of gender identity, according to EU officials. 

The U.S. proposal sought to anchor the term explicitly in biological sex.

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The U.S. introduced a resolution titled "Protection of women and girls through appropriate terminology," which sought to clarify how gender is understood across U.N. policy.

The draft states that the term "gender" should be interpreted "according to its ordinary, generally accepted usage, as referring to men and women." 

The proposal never reached a vote. Belgium, speaking on behalf of the European Union, introduced a "no action motion," a procedural tool that blocks debate and prevents a proposal from being considered. 

The motion passed, halting the U.S. resolution before it reached the floor.

That distinction carries practical implications. U.N. language shapes global standards tied to development funding, humanitarian programs, education policy and anti-discrimination frameworks.

Bethany Kozma, director of global affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, told Fox News Digital the move reflects a broader effort to shut down debate at the U.N.

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"While our redlines were ignored, the United States Government will not stand by and watch as malicious forces misuse multilateral organizations to promote their ideologies and social agendas, obstructing nations’ abilities to exercise their national sovereignty," Kozma said. "We will always protect women and girls from dangerous gender ideology and affirm biological truth."

She added that the decision to block the vote was driven by political calculation.

"The EU blocked our resolution to define gender to mean men and women at the U.N. because they feared we would win and they would lose," Kozma said. "We will not give up on doing what is right for women and girls. Even if we stand alone like we did at the U.N. last week, we will always stand to protect women and girls from dangerous radical gender ideology and always affirm biological truth."

STATE DEPARTMENT DECLARES 'INTERNATIONAL BUREAUCRACIES' WILL NO LONGER GET 'BLANK CHECKS' FROM THE US

A State Department official, speaking on background, described the move as part of a broader coordinated effort led by European countries.

"These are procedural games that these countries are not prepared for," the official said, referring to smaller delegations that may lack guidance on complex procedural votes.

The official said the maneuver allowed opponents to block a vote despite what the U.S. believed was growing support. These claims could not be independently verified.

The European Union rejected the U.S. criticism, saying the proposal was flawed and rushed.

"The draft resolution presented by the U.S. was factually incorrect," said David Jordens, spokesperson for Belgium’s foreign ministry, adding that it "misquotes and contradicts" language agreed to in the 1995 Beijing Declaration.

"While the EU respects member states’ prerogative to put forward new initiatives for consideration, CSW members should not be forced to rush a decision on an issue of this importance by the unilateral initiative of one member state, without any prior consultations or negotiations," Jordens said.

He added that "there is no universally agreed definition of the term ‘gender’. As reflected in the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women, the term was understood in accordance with its ordinary and generally accepted usage, without establishing a fixed or exhaustive definition. The United Nations should continue to approach gender equality in an inclusive and forward-looking manner, respectful of diversity. Any effort to revisit or reinterpret internationally agreed language must take place through broad, transparent consultations with the full membership."

Iran is poised to strike critical desalination infrastructure across the Middle East within days, escalating tensions with the U.S. and Israel and triggering global economic fallout, a U.N. official warned Sunday.

Kaveh Madani, an Iranian scientist and U.N. official, said desalination plants across the region could be hit "within the next few days," raising the prospect of a broader regional water crisis and affecting global markets.

The strike threats made by the regime on Sunday came in response to President Donald Trump's warning that the U.S. would hit Iranian power infrastructure unless the Strait of Hormuz was opened within 48 hours.

A spokesperson for the Central Headquarters of Hazrat Khatam al-Anbiya (PBUH) said, "Following previous warnings, if Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure is attacked by the enemy, all energy, information technology, and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region will be targeted."

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"The desalination plants might be targeted again within the next few days," Madani told Fox News Digital.

"The driest region of the world might see a real water war, but the knock-on effects on the world’s economy, including the U.S., will be both immediate and lasting," Madani said, pointing to what he described as a "new phase in the conflict" involving such critical civilian infrastructure.

"Now, add the possibility of damage to the already fragile water infrastructure, including treatment plants, pumping stations, and distribution networks," he said. "The consequences would be catastrophic and lasting."

Kaveh’s warning comes as the conflict — now in its fourth week — has expanded beyond military targets. Desalination facilities, including a plant on Iran’s Qeshm Island and another in Bahrain, have allegedly already been struck.

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Desalination, the process of creating drinkable water from seawater, is critical to supplying water across Israel and many of Iran’s Gulf neighbors, particularly in such arid regions where natural freshwater is scarce.

Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament, echoed the regime’s threats in a post on X on Sunday, warning that "critical infrastructure, energy, and oil across the region will be irreversibly destroyed, and oil prices will rise for a long time" if Iran’s power plants are struck.

"With a blackout, water treatment and distribution systems will also collapse in some parts of the country," Madani clarified.

"Iran will retaliate by attacking desalination, energy, and other energy-related infrastructure in all countries in the region that are parties to the war, including Israel," he added. "The price of oil and gas will increase further, and the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed, while a humanitarian disaster is created as millions of people lose access to water and electricity in the region."

TRUMP SAYS US ‘OBLITERATED’ TARGETS IN STRIKE ON KEY IRANIAN OIL HUB

"The U.S. has allegedly already attacked a desalination plant in Qeshm Island, and the Iranians have allegedly responded by striking a plant in Bahrain," he said.

"Iran is the least reliant on desalination plants, so it is explicitly including them as legitimate targets for retaliation because this is the biggest vulnerability of the other parties to the war across the Middle East," he added.

Despite that relative advantage, Iran itself has faced years of severe drought, mismanagement of water resources, and declining groundwater levels, leaving parts of the country increasingly water-stressed.

"If Iranians run out of water and/or electricity, they won’t rise up," Holly Dagres, Libitzky Family Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said.

"The unfortunate truth is that the Islamic Republic would rather allow the country to burn than appear weak while it is facing an existential threat," she said.

A reported airstrike on a hospital in Afghanistan that allegedly left hundreds dead is drawing growing scrutiny, not only over the strike itself but over what critics describe as a muted international response.

Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government said more than 400 people were killed and hundreds were wounded after a strike hit the Omid Hospital, a major drug rehabilitation facility in Kabul, Afghanistan, according to Reuters. Civilians, including children, also have been killed in escalating cross-border strikes in Pakistan, The Associated Press reported. 

The casualty figures have not been independently verified.

The strike comes amid a rapidly escalating military campaign between Pakistan and Afghanistan that has intensified over the past three weeks.

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Cross-border airstrikes and clashes have expanded across multiple provinces, with Pakistan targeting what it says are bases of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group responsible for attacks inside Pakistan and designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. The Taliban government has accused Islamabad of violating Afghanistan’s sovereignty.

At a United Nations briefing Wednesday, a U.N. spokesperson said the conflict has now entered its third week, with widespread civilian impact. More than 115,000 people have been displaced, more than 300 shelters damaged or destroyed, and at least 25 health facilities closed or disrupted due to the fighting, according to U.N. humanitarian agencies.

Pakistan has denied targeting a hospital, saying the operation struck militant infrastructure.

"Since the beginning of this counterterrorism campaign, Pakistan has sought to defend and protect the people of Pakistan … by targeting terrorists and terrorist infrastructure that are incubated and nurtured by the Afghan Taliban," the prime minister’s spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi told Fox News Digital.

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Zaidi said the strike targeted weapons and ammunition at Camp Phoenix in Kabulm Afghanistan, and insisted, "There are no civilian hospitals in Camp Phoenix," adding that reports of a rehabilitation facility being hit may be due to "secondary explosions" from stored weapons.

The United Nations on Wednesday, two days after the attack, condemned the reported strike, with Secretary-General António Guterres, through a spokesperson, "strongly condemning" an airstrike that "reportedly resulted in the death (and) injury of civilians at a hospital," and calling for an independent investigation.

Still, some analysts say the response does not match the scale of the incident.

"U.N. officials swiftly condemned U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran’s regime as unlawful ‘aggression’ … Yet Pakistan’s airstrike on Kabul’s Omid Hospital — killing over 400 civilians — has drawn only a belated ‘strong condemnation’ … and standard pleas for ‘de-escalation’," Executive Director of UN Watch Hillel Neuer told Fox News Digital.

"This restrained response — no personal outrage from Guterres, no emergency session naming Pakistan, and no equivalent chorus from U.N. rapporteurs, or agencies like WHO, U.N. Women, and UNICEF — reveals rank hypocrisy," he said. "When hundreds of vulnerable Afghans die in a hospital, the U.N. offers measured words. Yet when the U.S. or Israel can be blamed — justifiably or not — the condemnation is immediate and overwhelming. When some victims matter far more than others, the U.N. reveals its cynical political agenda. This double standard doesn’t uphold human rights, it erodes them." 

Australian human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky echoed that criticism in a post on X, calling the strike "an absolute massacre," while noting what he described as a lack of global outrage: "World outrage? Zero. Could barely muster p17 in the newspaper here."

The stunning details revealed by Steve Witkoff on his talks with Iran and their boastful remarks about its nuclear program have seemingly fallen on deaf ears at the U.N. nuclear agency.

Days into the U.S.-Israel joint campaign against Iran, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi posted to X stating, "There has been no evidence of Iran building a nuclear bomb."

Fox News Digital asked the IAEA how it could assess the development of a possible nuclear weapon without access to Iran’s facilities but received no response at press time.

Grossi's post came as the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff gave details to Fox News’ Sean Hannity earlier this week on his talks with the regime prior to the U.S. and Israel launching their military operation against Tehran.

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Witkoff revealed the negotiators said they had an "inalienable right" to enrich uranium. When Witkoff countered that the Trump administration had the "inalienable right to stop [them, ]" he explained that the negotiators said this was only their starting point.

"They have 10,000, roughly, kilograms of fissionable material that's broken up into roughly 460 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium, another 1,000 kilograms 20% enriched uranium," Witkoff explained. "They manufacture their own centrifuges to enrich this material, so there's almost no stopping them. They have an endless supply of it. The 60% material can be brought to 90% - that's weapon grade — in roughly one week, maybe 10 days at the outside. The 20% can be brought to weapons grade inside of three to four weeks."

Witkoff added that during his first meeting with the negotiators, they said "with no shame that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% and they're aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of this negotiating stance."

"They were proud of it. They were proud that they had evaded all sorts of oversight protocols to get to a place where they could deliver 11 nuclear bombs," Witkoff said.

Grossi, who is running to become the next United Nations secretary general, did however admit in his post on X that Iran maintains "a large stockpile of near-weapons grade enriched uranium" and said that the Islamic Republic has not allowed inspectors full access to its program. With these facts in mind, he said that the IAEA "will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful" until Iran "assists…in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues."

Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, FDD, told Fox News Digital, "No one paid much attention to Rafael Grossi throughout the Biden years when he repeatedly warned publicly that Iran was refusing to cooperate with and providing false statements to the IAEA about ongoing investigations into undeclared facilities, activities and nuclear material."

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The former Trump administration official said, "There are some key facts being ignored today. The IAEA board last year found Iran to be in breach of the NPT. To this day, Grossi has confirmed that the IAEA cannot verify the Iranian nuclear program is peaceful."

He continued, "This is not Iraq where we lacked hard public evidence of a nuclear weapons program. Iran had built out nearly every part of its nuclear weapons program in plain sight, with the weaponization work moving forward at undeclared sites controlled by SPND. If the administration had evidence the regime was moving quickly to reconstitute key elements of that program — from advanced centrifuge manufacturing to completion of a new underground enrichment site alongside advancement of delivery vehicle programs - the president was fully justified in enforcing a red line he set after Operation Midnight Hammer."

Spencer Faragasso, a senior fellow at the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), told Fox News Digital that his organization calculated prior to the June 2025 12 Day War that Iran possessed 440.9 kilograms of 60% rich uranium. With about 24 or 25 kilograms of 90% rich uranium required per weapon, Faragasso said the country possessed the ability to produce 11 weapons in one month.

Faragasso said that there remain questions about whether the Iranians can access their enriched materials, and whether they possess additional centrifuges that may have not been installed in the facilities that were struck.

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"Being able to enrich the uranium up to weapon grade is actually a tall order," he said, explaining that it would require a new enrichment site and components and materials that "Iran would either need to recover from its destroyed facilities" or "illicitly import them from abroad." With a few hundred centrifuges, enough for two or three cascades, Faragasso said the Iranians could have enriched their uranium stores to weapon grade.

"To be clear, the successes gained from the June war are not permanent and officials from the regime spoke publicly about how they wanted to reconstitute their enrichment program, their nuclear program," he said. "The more time that goes on, the worse the situation will get. It’s not going to get better, especially regarding the ballistic missile program."

He said the Iranians had previously expressed the desire to open a fourth enrichment site, which the IAEA stated was at Esfahan. According to Faragasso, there was "never confirmation" of where the site was or how far along construction may have been.

The group is now tracking an Israeli strike on March 3 on Min-Zadayi, a site that Faragasso said "was completely unknown" to them previously. The Israel Defense Forces reported on X that the site was "used by a group of nuclear scientists who operated to develop a key component for nuclear weapons." 

The State Department referred Fox News Digital to remarks made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the press on Tuesday on Iran's nuclear program. 

"This terroristic, radical, cleric-led regime cannot be ever allowed to have nuclear weapons." Explaining that the Islamic Republic was "willing to slaughter their own people in the streets," Rubio directed members of the press to "imagine what they would do to us. Imagine what they would do to others. Under President Trump that will never, ever happen," he said.

While former Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki praised in a Persian-language television interview the issuance of a fatwa calling for the killing of U.S. President Donald Trump, his daughter is living in New York City with her husband — an Iranian diplomat serving at the permanent mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, Fox News digital confirmed.

Mottaki, who served as Iran’s foreign minister from 2005 to 2010 under then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and remains a prominent figure in Iran’s political establishment, said Iran’s Supreme Leader had determined that Trump was a criminal and suggested Iran’s judiciary should act, according to a video reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

He also described as a "brave and significant act" a religious ruling calling for the killing of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Mottaki’s daughter, Zahra Assadi Nazari, is married to Nasser Assadi Nazari, who is listed as a third counselor at Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York.

The situation echoes previous controversies involving relatives of senior Iranian officials living in the United States. 

In January, Emory University dismissed Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of Iranian official Ali Larijani, from a teaching position after protests over her employment at the university’s medical school.

On Sunday, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Saeid Iravani, sparred with U.S. envoy Mike Waltz during a Security Council session, telling the American ambassador to "be polite," a remark that drew a sharp rebuke.

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"I have one word only: I advise the representative of the United States to be polite," Iravani said during the meeting.

Moments later, Waltz responded: "Frankly, I’m not going to dignify this with another response, especially as this representative sits here in this body representing a regime that has killed tens of thousands of its own people and imprisoned many more simply for wanting freedom from your tyranny."

Fox News Digital contacted Iran’s mission to the United Nations asking whether it could confirm the relationship. The mission declined to comment.

Fox News Digital also requested comment from the U.S. Mission to the United Nations regarding Mottaki’s remarks and the broader implications of a former senior Iranian official appearing to endorse violence against the sitting U.S. president while his immediate family resides in New York. No response was received by the time of publication.

In less than a week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has gone from supporting U.S. actions against Iran to raising the issue that the U.S. and Israel "acted without engaging the United Nations or consulting with allies, including Canada" to on Wednesday not ruling out Canadian military participation in the conflict.

"He’s been all over the place," Nader Hashemi, a Canadian-born associate professor of Middle East politics at Georgetown University, told Fox News Digital. "It doesn’t look very good for him or for the government of Canada."

"My own reading is that he’s influenced by public opinion and his understanding of Canada’s national interests and where they lie, and specifically the relationship with the United States at its core. His first statement was very supportive of the American-Israeli attack and then he walked it back two days later when he got a lot of pushback because there was no reference to Canada’s support for international law, rules-based order and the United Nations."

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When asked whether Canada would join the U.S. military against Iran during his visit to Australia on Wednesday, Carney told reporters that "one can never categorically rule out participation" and that Canada "will stand by our allies, when makes sense."

However, former NATO commander and retired Canadian major-general David Fraser told CTV News Channel that it’s "unlikely" that Canada would be drawn into the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran unless a member state, such as Turkey, called for assistance under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.

Carney’s latest comments signal the Canadian prime minister’s desire to ensure that "it doesn’t create a deeper rupture with the United States than already exists," said Hashemi.

Melissa Lantsman, deputy leader of the Canadian Conservative Party, summarized the prime minister’s changing position on the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran with a post on X: "We support it, we’re upset about it, we think it’s bad, but also, we might join in."

Her colleague, Michael Chong, the Conservative shadow minister for foreign affairs, told Canadian broadcaster CTV that "supporting the airstrikes and at the same time calling for a secession of those strikes" is "an inherent contradiction."

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Carney has also had pushback from the political left.

After the airstrikes against Iran began, Alexandre Boulerice, foreign affairs critic for the New Democratic Party of Canada, said in a statement that his party "strongly condemns the American and Israeli bombings of Iran" and "deplores the Carney government’s decision to blindly support this dangerous venture by Israel and Donald Trump's administration. We want Canada to be a voice for diplomacy, peace and international law."

During his Australian tour this week, the prime minister said that "hegemons are increasingly acting without constraint or respect for international norms or laws while others bear the consequences."

He also said Canada supports "efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security," but noted that Canada "take[s] this position with regret because the current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order."

Carney said that "Canada calls for a rapid de-escalation of hostilities and is prepared to assist in achieving this goal."

At a security and defense conference in Ottawa, also this week, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said that Canada calls "on all sides to respect the rules of international engagement" and that "international law binds all parties" in the Middle East conflict.

The results of an Angus Reid Institute poll, involving 1,619 respondents and released on Tuesday, showed that 49% of Canadians opposed the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes against Iran, while 34% were supportive.