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

UNITED NATIONS — 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 at “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, making clear she was speaking generally and not 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.

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.

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, which was scheduled before the war began on Saturday, is officially titled “Children, Technology, and Education in Conflict.”

The council’s last meeting, on Saturday, was a contentious emergency session called in response to the war. Secretary-General António 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's support of Ukrainian children

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.

First lady presides at a time of strained US-UN ties

President Trump has criticized the U.N. and withdrawn the U.S. from major U.N. organizations, including the World Health Organization and the cultural agency UNESCO, while pulling funding from dozens of others. The U.S. also has failed to pay its mandatory dues and owes the United Nations billions of dollars.

This has created a financial crisis at the U.N., with Guterres warning in late January that the world body faced “imminent financial collapse” unless its financial rules were overhauled or all 193 member nations paid their dues.

Asked if Melania Trump’s appearance was a positive sign for U.N.-U.S. relations, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said it showed “the importance that the United States feels towards the Security Council and the subject.”