DUBAI, October 30. /TASS/. The United States and a number of other influential states prevent the UN Security Council (UNSC) from functioning normally and fulfilling its key responsibilities, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani Chafi has said.

"International organizations, including the UN Security Council, have shown that in difficult times they are incapable of coping with their mission to combat and prevent crises," the Tasnim news agency quotes him as saying. "Various states enjoying significant influence in the international arena, especially the US, prevent the Security Council and the UN from fulfilling their responsibilities to maintain peace and security."

The next meeting of the UN Security Council on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is due on October 30. The meeting was requested by the UAE as the Israeli military announced the expansion of ground operations in Gaza.

On October 22, the US submitted its draft resolution on the situation in the Middle East to the UN Security Council. As follows from the text of the document, seen by TASS, the US draft contains no calls for a ceasefire. It condemns the Hamas attack, calls for the release of hostages and recognizes Israel's right to self-defense. In addition, the US resolution calls for the full respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, and recognizes the efforts of Qatar and other countries that led to Hamas’ release of two hostages on October 20.

On October 18, the UN Security Council did not adopt the Brazilian draft resolution on the Middle East, because the US exercised its veto power. The US expressed disappointment the draft did not include a clause on Israel's right to self-defense. Earlier, the UN Security Council failed to adopt the Russian draft resolution on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Four countries - Britain, the United States, France and Japan - opposed it. Russia's permanent representative to the world organization, Vasily Nebenzya, said that the UN Security Council had once again become a hostage to the Western countries’ designs and failed to send "a clear strong collective message aimed at de-escalating the situation."

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its operation as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel has declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and carried out air strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as some areas of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also underway in the West Bank.