US mission to the UN

Secretary of State Pompeo visiting the Patton Museum, which commemorates the United States role in liberating Czechoslovakia, in Pilsen, Czech Republic, Aug. 11, 2020. While Pompeo was traveling in Europe last week, the UN Security Council rejected a US draft resolution to extend the Iran arms ban. The five European countries in the Council and six other nations abstained in the vote. RON PRZYSUCHA/STATE DEPARTMENT

In New York City at the UN, Ambassador Kelly Craft with Talal Alhaj of Al Arabiya TV, Aug. 11, 2020, discussing the US effort to extend the Iran arms ban. Craft tweeted: “Allowing Iran to gain access to new, more powerful weapons would only fuel new terror, chaos & bloodshed in the region & beyond. The choice for the UNSC should be obvious.”

Carol Pasisi, an activist from the Pacific island nation of Niue, spoke to the Security Council on July 24 about the threats of climate change in her region, like damage to the blue economy.
The Security Council held a climate change and security debate, led by Germany, nearly 10 years since the first and last time the Council met on this specific issue and agreed to a presidential statement on it. The Dominican Republic also led a meeting on climate change in January 2019.

The UN Security Council visited South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, in 2016, where Samantha Power, the US envoy to the UN, led the entourage. As the Council boarded a UN plane to leave the country and go home, she said that it “does not mean that we are going to forget about them.” UNMISS

Kelley Currie, US ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, has had the job since January. The Trump administration tried to eliminate the post at one point but the Senate made it permanent. Currie worked previously at the US mission to the UN, above, for Nikki Haley. ERIC BRIDIERS

The Security Council virtual meeting on June 30, debating the status of the Iran nuclear deal’s arms embargo, which expires Oct. 18, 2020. US Secretary of State Pompeo attended briefly, above, to make his pitch to keep the ban. He met resistance, as expected, from members.

While Secretary-General António Guterres held a virtual press briefing on June 25, his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, above, moderated. Guterres spoke about the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Charter and the relentless devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO

Secretary-General António Guterres holds a virtual press briefing to appeal for a global cease-fire during the coronavirus pandemic, March 23, 2020. So far, his call has been heard in Cameroon, Philippines, Yemen and parts of Syria. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO

US Ambassador Kelly Craft voting in the UN Security Council on a women, peace and security resolution, Oct. 29, 2019. She and her husband, the coal billionaire Joseph Craft, have donated money recently to a political action committee dedicated to re-electing Trump. 
Kelly Craft has taken a big step toward helping to ensure her political future, lavishing a campaign contribution of $360,600 on the re-election of her boss, President Donald Trump.

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Palestine, arrives to address the Security Council on the new Trump plan for the Mideast, Feb. 11, 2020. The meeting was not as fraught as it could have been, given the outright rejection by Abbas and many others to the US proposal. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO