First lady Melania Trump on Monday chaired a United Nations Security Council session on children and education in conflict, a first for a spouse of a sitting world leader and a striking display of the Trump administration’s hands-on approach to global diplomacy by family members.
The meeting in New York came two days after U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel launched attacks on Iran, drawing warnings from the United Nations about the safety of children amid a broader military escalation. UNICEF said the flare-up “marks a dangerous moment for millions of children in the region,” echoing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
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“The U.S. stands with all of the children throughout the world. I hope soon peace will be yours,” the first lady told the 15-member council, which the United States currently leads under the body’s monthly rotating presidency.
The session was overshadowed by a dispute over alleged civilian casualties in Iran. Tehran’s U.N. envoy, Amir Saeid Iravani, accused the United States and Israel of striking a girls’ primary school in the southern town of Minab on Saturday, saying 165 schoolgirls were killed. Reuters could not independently confirm the reports. Iravani called it “deeply shameful and hypocritical” for Washington to convene a meeting on protecting children in war while “launching missile strikes against Iranian cities and bombing schools and killing children.”
Without addressing the Iranian allegations directly, China’s U.N. ambassador, Fu Cong, told the council that attacks on schools are among the gravest violations against children identified by the United Nations and said the international community should respond with robust investigations and accountability measures.
Monday’s gathering had been announced last week, before the latest strikes, and was framed by the U.S. mission as a focus on safeguarding education and children in conflict zones. Still, it underscored how Mr. Trump has personalized foreign policy, drawing in family members and confidants on high-stakes issues. It is the first time a leader’s spouse has presided over a Security Council meeting, the U.N. body charged with maintaining international peace and security.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said last week that Mrs. Trump’s plan to chair the session showed “the importance that the United States feels towards the Security Council and the subject at hand.”
Mr. Trump has long criticized the U.N. as ineffective and in need of reform. The United States is billions of dollars behind on its U.N. budget contributions, arrears that have climbed substantially under his tenure. Yet the president struck a more conciliatory tone last month at the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace, an initiative he said was designed to help resolve conflicts globally — a move that many world leaders worry could sideline the United Nations.
While largely absent from the public eye through much of Mr. Trump’s presidencies, the first lady has championed children’s causes in the past. In 2025 she wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin urging the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war, according to the White House at the time.
Diplomats said the council’s agenda Monday centered on practical steps to keep classrooms open and safe — from deconflicting school locations with militaries to documenting attacks and improving accountability. But the debate reflected deep geopolitical rifts, with members urging restraint and a halt to hostilities even as they disagreed over responsibility for the latest violence.
“Protecting children in conflict is not optional; it is a legal and moral imperative,” one senior diplomat said after the session, summing up a day when the United Nations’ top security forum grappled with how to shield the youngest in war zones even as fighting threatens to spread.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
