Iran FM: US-Israeli strikes killed over 5,000

The striking element here is not the casualty figure itself but the venue and framing: Iran is using the UN podium to characterize the campaign as a violation of international law and to name assassinated leadership, which pushes the conflict into a legitimacy and accountability argument rather than a purely military one. That matters for how escalation risk is read, since public claims at the UN tend to precede diplomatic maneuvering. Whether the casualty and targeting claims are independently verified, and whether they shift Security Council or regional positions, is the open question worth watching.