US believes its power matters more than international law, UN chief António Guterres tells BBC

The UN chief told the BBC that the US had acted with impunity and believed its power was more important than international law.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, António Guterres said Washington’s “clear belief” was that multilateral solutions were misplaced.

What is important, he continued, is that “the United States uses its power and influence and sometimes, in this context, the norms of international law.”

His comments came weeks after the United States struck Venezuela and captured its president and in the context of Donald Trump’s repeated threats to annex Greenland.

Guterres said he believed the UN’s founding principles, including the equality of member states, were now under threat.

President Trump has previously been harsh in his criticism of the United Nations.

He used his speech to the General Assembly last September to question its motives, claiming that he had “single-handedly ended seven endless wars” and that the UN “didn’t try to help any of them.”

“Then I realized the UN wasn’t there for us,” he said.

Faced with this damning assessment, Guterres admitted that his organization was struggling to ensure its members abide by international laws set out in the UN Charter.

He emphasized that the UN was “extremely busy” in resolving major global conflicts. “But the UN has no influence; the great powers have stronger influence.

He questioned whether this extra power was used to produce real and lasting solutions to these conflicts or just to produce quick solutions. “There’s a big difference between the two things,” he said.

Guterres also said his organization needed reform to deal with the “dramatic problems and challenges” facing its 193 members.

“There are those who believe that the law of power should be replaced by the law of power,” the UN chief said.

“In fact, a look at the current policy of the United States reveals a clear conviction that multilateral solutions are not relevant and that what is important is the use of US power and influence, and sometimes the use of international legal norms in this context.”

He argued that the UN Security Council, designed to maintain international peace and security, no longer represented the world and was “ineffective”.

Any of the council’s permanent members (France, China, Russia, the UK or the US) currently has the right to veto decisions. Both Russia and the United States have used this power to thwart global efforts to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Guterres claimed that vetoes were used to promote the interests of individual members and criticized the fact that “three European countries” are permanent members.

He called for changes to the council’s structure, “restoring legitimacy” and “giving a voice to the whole world”, and limiting veto powers to avoid unacceptable “blockades”.

Former Portuguese prime minister Guterres took over as UN chief in 2017 and will step down at the end of this year.

In his annual address to the General Assembly, traditionally used to set the organization’s priorities, he warned of a world in chaos “filled with conflict, impunity, inequality and unpredictability” and described “brazen violations of international law” as one of the greatest challenges facing the global order.

One of the ongoing conflicts that Guterres identified as key for the UN was Gaza.

Aid was prevented from being distributed to the region for most of the war, as Israel prevented international humanitarian organizations from bringing aid to the region.

At one point, Israel even supported an outside contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Organization, to do work the UN had traditionally done for decades. Hundreds of Palestinians were killed while trying to access food at GHF facilities.

Asked whether the UN was powerless in Gaza, where it should make a difference, he said: “Of course, but let’s be clear.

“For a long time, Israel has been saying that humanitarian aid was not distributed because the UN could not distribute it. Of course, when Israel did not allow us to enter Gaza, we could not enter Gaza. Then there was a ceasefire and there was an intense flow of humanitarian aid.”

“As long as we had the conditions, we were ready,” he said.

A few days ago, Guterres said at the UN General Assembly that “solving the problems of 1945” will not solve the problems of 2026, referring to the founding structure of the organization.

The challenges keep coming, with the United States forcibly changing leadership in Venezuela, regime forces in Iran killing thousands of protesters, and Donald Trump announcing his goal of annexing Greenland.

Questions are mounting about the death of multilateralism and the failure of some world leaders to clearly articulate and defend the rule of international law.

But Antonio Guterres told me he remains positive.

“I think people are sometimes reluctant to confront the powerful. But the truth is, if we don’t confront the powerful, we’ll never have a better world.”