At the emergency session of the UN’s Security Council, under-secretary general Rosemary DiCarlo has read out a statement on behalf of Secretary General António Guterres.

Guterres says that he is “deeply concerned that rules of international law have not been respected” when it comes to the US"s actions in Venezuela.

The statement says: “I am deeply concerned about the possible intensification of instability in the country, the potential impact on the region, and the precedent it may set for how relations between and among states are conducted”.