Melania Trump presides at UN Security Council meeting on children in conflict as US attacks Iran

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. first lady Melania Trump presided over a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday focusing on children in conflict, one of her signature issues, and acknowledged she was doing so in “challenging times” as the United States has joined Israel in attacking Iran.

“The U.S. stands with all of the children throughout the world," she said, speaking generally and not specifically about the new war in the Middle East. "I hope soon peace will be yours.”

Hanging over Monday's meeting was what Iranian state media says was an airstrike that hit a girls' school in southern Iran, killing at least 165 people and wounding dozens more. The Israeli military said it was not aware of strikes in the area. The U.S. military said it was looking into the reports.

Shortly before Monday's session began, Iran's ambassador to the U.N., Amir Saeid Iravani, said it was “deeply shameful and hypocritical” for the U.S. to convene a meeting on protecting children during conflict while launching airstrikes on Iranian cities.

“For the United States, ‘protecting children’ and ‘maintaining international peace and security’ clearly mean something very different from what the U.N. Charter provides," he told reporters.

U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo said the world body was aware of the reports of the deaths at the girls' school. She noted the impact the U.S.-Israeli strikes and the Iranian retaliatory strikes was having on children across the region.

“We have been reminded of this truth over the last two days," she told the Security Council. "Schools in Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman have closed and moved to remote learning owing to the ongoing military operations in the region,” she said.

Melania Trump was the first spouse of a world leader to take the president’s seat at the United Nations’ most powerful body, which is charged with ensuring global peace and security, according to the U.N.

The wife of President Donald Trump was given the opportunity as the United States takes over the council presidency for the month of March. In the past, presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers have often wielded the gavel.

Speaker after speaker on Monday said it was important to close the digital divide between developed and developing countries so all children have access to 21st century technology.

Melania Trump strongly advocated for all children to be connected to artificial intelligence to help them learn about the beliefs, customs and history of others. “AI is democratizing knowledge which was once confined to university libraries," she said.

Drawing a connection between knowledge and peace, she urged members of the Security Council to “safeguard learning."

“Enduring peace will be achieved when knowledge and understanding are fully valued within all our societies,” she said.

While the first lady spoke of a need to protect children and their access to education and technology in conflict, her husband's administration has cut funding for a number of U.N. agencies and other international organizations that address these issues.

Among them is the U.N. Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children in Armed Conflict, which provides detailed reporting on the impact that conflicts have on children around the world. This information can help trigger action to prevent rape and violence against women and children. President Trump withdrew U.S. support in January.

The U.S. has also dramatically cut funding for the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, and has withdrawn from the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO.

DiCarlo told the council the world is facing the highest number of armed conflicts since World War II. “The number of civilians killed in these conflicts is the highest in decades," she said. "Our reality is clear: When conflicts erupt, children are among those most severely affected.”

The first lady arrived at U.N. headquarters in a motorcade and was greeted by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. She shook hands with each of the 15 Security Council members and posed for a group photo.

The rotating president of the council gets to choose the subject and participants for some meetings. Monday’s meeting was scheduled before the war began.

The council’s last meeting, on Saturday, was a contentious emergency session called in response to the start of the war. Guterres condemned the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes as violations of international law, including the U.N. Charter. He also condemned Iran’s retaliatory attacks for violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations in the Mideast.

Melania Trump took the unusual step last summer of writing a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin before his summit with her husband and later announced that the effort had led to a group of children displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war being reunited with their families.

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 resulted in Russia taking Ukrainian children out of their country so they could be raised as Russian. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has lobbied world leaders for help reuniting families.

Melania Trump, first lady of the United States, presides over the United Nations Security Council at United Nations headquarters, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Melania Trump, first lady of the United States, presides over the United Nations Security Council at United Nations headquarters, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Melania Trump, first lady of the United States, arrives with U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz, to preside over a United Nations Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

First lady Melania Trump takes a photo with a group of UN Diplomats before she presides over the United Nations Security Council on Iran and the recent attacks by U.S. and Israel at United Nations headquarters, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

First lady Melania Trump takes a photo with a group of UN Diplomats before she presides over the United Nations Security Council on Iran and the recent attacks by U.S. and Israel at United Nations headquarters, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

First lady Melania Trump presides over the United Nations Security Council at United Nations headquarters, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

First lady Melania Trump speaks at an event to present her 2025 inaugural ball gown to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

LONDON (AP) — Senior Cabinet ministers on Sunday rallied around U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose leadership is teetering over his decision to give Britain’s most important diplomatic job to Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished politician and friend of Jeffrey Epstein.

Starmer will face restive lawmakers in Parliament Monday to fight for his job after the explosive revelation that Mandelson was appointed ambassador to the United States despite failing security checks.

Starmer says he’s “furious” that he wasn’t told at the time, in January 2025, that an intensive vetting process had recommended Mandelson not be given security clearance. The Foreign Office, which oversees diplomatic appointments, cleared him anyway.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said that if Starmer had known, “he would never, ever have appointed him ambassador.”

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told Sky News on Sunday that Starmer “is a man of integrity and there is no way he would have proceeded” with Mandelson’s appointment had he known.

The top civil servant in the Foreign Office, Olly Robbins, was forced to resign on Thursday — though allies say he was just doing his job and is being made a scapegoat. Robbins is expected to give his own version of events to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

Simon McDonald, who was top civil servant in the Foreign Office until 2020, said Robbins had been “thrown under the bus.” He told the BBC that vetting information was highly sensitive and “would never be shared” with the prime minister or his staff.

All the main opposition parties have called on Starmer to resign. Right-of-center Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said the prime minister’s position is “untenable.” Ed Davey, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, said Sunday that the government is “in perpetual crisis, and I don’t think they can get out of that unless Keir Starmer moves aside.”

Starmer’s Labour Party holds a large parliamentary majority, so power to topple him lies with his own lawmakers, who are already glum about the party’s dire poll ratings.

Starmer defused a potential crisis in February, when some Labour lawmakers called for him to resign over the Mandelson appointment. But he could face a leadership challenge after local and regional elections on May 7, in which Labour is expected to do badly.

Some Labour lawmakers think it would be damaging to change leaders at a time of global instability, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and with three years until a national election must be called.

Others despair at the prime minister’s repeated missteps since he led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024. Starmer has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and has been forced into repeated policy U-turns.

Critics say the Mandelson appointment reveals the prime minister's lack of judgment. Documents released by the government in March, after being forced to by Parliament, showed Starmer was warned by his staff that Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, exposed the government to “reputational risk.”

But his expertise as a former European Union trade chief and contacts among global elites were considered assets in dealing with President Donald Trump's administration.

He lasted less than nine months in the job. Starmer fired Mandelson in September 2025 after evidence emerged that he had lied about the extent of his links to Epstein.

The release of millions of pages of Epstein-related documents by the U.S. Department of Justice in January brought more revelations, showing that Mandelson’s relationship with the financier continued even after Epstein’s conviction in 2008 for sexual offenses involving a minor.

Emails also suggested Mandelson had passed on sensitive, and potentially market-moving, government information to Epstein in 2009 after the global financial crisis.

British police launched a criminal probe and arrested Mandelson Feb. 23 on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

He has been released without bail conditions as the police investigation continues. Mandelson has previously denied wrongdoing and hasn’t been charged. He does not face allegations of sexual misconduct.

Peter Mandelson is seen outside his home in London, Friday, April 17, 2026. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves after the multinational virtual summit and press conference at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, Friday April 17, 2026 (Tom Nicholson/Pool Photo via AP)