Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a blistering critique of the United Nations at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, accusing the world body of failing on some of the most consequential global crises of the decade and contrasting its impotence with decisive American leadership.

Rubio’s remarks — unveiled to a packed hall of diplomats, defense officials and world leaders — centered on what he described as the UN’s “lack of answers” on pressing conflicts, including the war in Gaza, the Ukraine battlefield and Iran’s nuclear program.

“[T]oday, on the most pressing matters before us, [the UN] has no answers and has played virtually no role,” Rubio said, according to a full transcript of his speech.

Rubio zeroed in on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, where 251 Israelis were kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack. Rather than the UN stepping in to help get hostages freed, Rubio noted that it was U.S. leadership that secured their release, brokered a fragile truce and stabilized a volatile situation.

He cast the Ukraine conflict in similar terms, arguing that it took American diplomatic muscle — not multilateral action led by the United Nations — to bring warring sides to the negotiating table, even if peace remains elusive. Rubio did not shy away from tough rhetoric on Iran’s nuclear ambitions either, saying the issue “required 14 bombs dropped with precision from American B-2 bombers.”

The secretary of state also criticized the global body’s inability to address threats to U.S. security emanating from a “narcoterrorist dictator” in Venezuela, alluding to the Trump administration’s recent military operation that resulted in the capture of the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Despite his harsh critique, Rubio did not call for the abolition of the organization. He acknowledged that the UN “still has tremendous potential to be a tool for good in the world.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)