UN chief Antonio Guterres told the BBC that the US believes its power outweighs international law.

The UN chief told the BBC the US is acting with impunity and believes its power outweighs international law.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today show,

António Guterres said Washington had a “clear conviction” that multilateral solutions were irrelevant.

What matters, he added, is “the exercise of power and influence by the United States, and sometimes by the norms of international law in this regard.”.

His comments came just weeks after the US invaded Venezuela and seized its president, and they were made in the context of Donald Trump’s repeated threats to annex Greenland.

Guterres said he believes the founding principles of the United Nations – including the equality of member states – are now threatened.

President Trump has been sharply critical of the United Nations in the past as well.

He used his address to the General Assembly last September to question its purpose, claiming that they “ended seven unavoidable wars on their own” and that the UN “did not try to help any of them.”

“Later, I realised that the United Nations is not for us,” he said.

Presented with this devastating assessment, Guterres acknowledged that his organisation was struggling to get members to follow the international laws set out in the UN Charter.

He stressed that the United Nations is “deeply engaged” in resolving major global conflicts. “But the UN lacks influence, as the major powers exert a significantly stronger influence.”

He questioned whether that additional leverage was being used to find real and lasting solutions to those conflicts or merely as a quick fix. “There is a huge difference between the two things,” he said.

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

The UN chief stated, “There are those who believe that the law of might should replace the power of law.”

“Indeed, the US’s current policy shows that multilateral solutions are irrelevant, and that the US’s power and influence, and sometimes the application of international law, are what matters.”

He suggested that the UN Security Council – which was created to maintain international peace and security – no longer represents the world and is “ineffective”.

Any of the council’s permanent members – France, China, Russia, Britain or the US – can currently veto resolutions. Both Russia and the US have used this power to thwart global efforts to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Guterres claimed that the veto was being used to advance the interests of individual members and criticised the fact that “three European countries” were permanent members.

He called for changes to the structure of the Council—to “gain legitimacy” and “give voice to the whole world”—and to limit veto powers to avoid unacceptable “obstructions.”

Guterres – a former Portuguese prime minister – took over as UN chief in 2017 and will leave the role at the end of this year.

In his annual comments to the General Assembly, which are traditionally used to identify the organisation’s priorities, he warned of a world in anarchy, “full of conflict, impunity, inequality and unpredictability”, and identified “blatant violations of international law” as one of the greatest challenges facing the global order.

Guterres highlighted Gaza as a crucial current conflict for the United Nations.

It was prevented from distributing aid to the Gaza Strip for large parts of the war, as Israel blocked international humanitarian organisations from bringing it to the area.

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

When asked if he saw the United Nations as powerless in Gaza, where it should have made a difference, he said, “Of course, but to be clear.

For a long time, Israel blamed the UN’s inability to deliver aid for the lack of humanitarian assistance. Whenever Israel forbade entry into Gaza, we were unable to enter. And then there was a ceasefire, and there was a giant flow of humanitarian aid.”

He insisted, “We were ready, provided we had the conditions.”

A few days earlier, Guterres told the UN General Assembly that “problem-solving in 1945” will not solve 2026 problems, referring to the organisation’s founding structure.

The challenges keep coming, with the US-forced leadership change in Venezuela, the killing of thousands of protesters by regime forces in Iran, and Donald Trump’s stated aim to annex Greenland.

Questions continue to grow about the death of multilateralism and the failure of some world leaders to defend the rule of international law.

But António Guterres told me he remains positive.

“I think people are sometimes reluctant to confront the powerful. But the truth is that if we don’t confront the powerful, we will never be able to create a better world.”