STATEMENT ON THE US-IRAN ESCALATION I am gravely concerned by the renewed escalation between the United States and Iran. The latest exchange of strikes, extending beyond the immediate parties and into other states in the region, threatens to draw the wider Middle East into an even more destructive conflict. The party with the greatest capacity to shape events bears a particular responsibility to exercise restraint and prevent further escalation. The sovereignty of other states cannot be cast aside. No military objective justifies exposing civilians to an expanding conflict. Economic measures that inflict hardship on civilians and impede diplomatic engagement risk exacerbating rather than resolving this crisis. I urge the United States and Iran to halt further escalation and return immediately to diplomacy and the understandings reached in June. This conflict can ultimately be resolved only through political and diplomatic means. The world must not be made to pay the price for a wider regional war. ANWAR IBRAHIM(Anwar Ibrahim)