Iran, Ukraine wars prove global power relations have changed: UN chief

GENEVA, Aug 25: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the world’s most powerful states need to recognise that their influence has narrowed, citing Russia’s war in Ukraine and the US war with Iran, according to the Financial Times.

Speaking in an interview with the Financial Times, Guterres was asked whether the Board of Peace, the body set up by US President Donald Trump to oversee Gaza, posed a “threat” to the UN Security Council.
“I think it’s time for superpowers to understand the limits of their power,” he said. “The weight of different countries has changed, and that inevitably will be having an impact in the way power relations are established.”

Referring to Gaza, where the board has made limited progress on establishing peace, Guterres said it was not the UN that should be concerned.

“It’s not for the UN to be worried. It’s for others to be worried,” he said, according to the Financial Times report.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times as he approaches the end of his decade-long tenure at the helm of the UN, Guterres described a world being reshaped by the decline of unilateral US hegemony and the humbling lessons learned from "wars of choice" where Cold War-era superpowers have failed to secure decisive victories.

Guterres emphasized that the era of superpowers dictating global outcomes through force is over, citing the Iran and Ukraine wars. 

Addressing the Middle East, the UN chief pointed directly to the failure of Washington’s strategic objectives in Iran.

“Superpowers need to understand that things have changed, the weight of different countries has changed,” Guterres said, casting these geopolitical setbacks as clear evidence of the transition away from the US-led post-Cold War order.

The UN Secretary-General’s remarks reflect the geopolitical reality following the unprovoked US-Israeli military aggression against Iran that began in February 2026.

The war was designed to cripple Iran’s defensive capabilities and force political capitulation through a rapid, overwhelming display of force.
�"Agencies