TEHRAN – Concerns are mounting that U.S. President Donald Trump’s new initiative for Gaza could sideline the United Nations and reshape global governance.

Trump said he envisions his newly created “Board of Peace” operating above the United Nations, intensifying fears among the global community that he is seeking to replace the global body with a U.S.-directed alternative that could rewrite international rules to Washington’s benefit.

“The Board of Peace is going to be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly,” Trump said during the panel’s inaugural meeting. 

Trump indicated that his “Board of Peace” would also take a hands-on role in the UN’s finances and infrastructure. “We’re going to make sure its facilities are good. They need help, and they need help money-wise,” Trump said.

While there is broad agreement that the UN requires reforms, few governments support dismantling or replacing it with a new body overseen by the U.S. president. 

The UN has faced persistent financial strain, due in part to the United States’ failure to pay nearly $4 billion in assessed dues. Its secretary general has warned of “imminent financial collapse” due to member states not paying their fees. 

Analysts note the contradiction in Trump’s sharp criticism of the UN even as the international body says the United States has paid roughly $160 million of the nearly $4 billion it owes.

Trump’s comments suggesting the “Board of Peace” could assume an expanded mandate, and his remark that it “might” replace the UN, have unsettled major powers and drawn firm pushback from UN leadership.

“In my opinion, the basic responsibility for international peace and security lies with UN, lies with the Security Council,” Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.

“Only the Security Council can adopt decisions binding on all, and no other body or other coalition can legally be required to have all member states to comply with decisions on peace and security.”

China’s UN ambassador issued a pointed rebuke, stating that “No single country should dictate terms based on its power, and a winner-takes-all approach is unacceptable,” China’s UN ambassador, Fu Cong, said.

He called for the United Nations to be strengthened, not weakened, and said the Security Council’s status and role “are irreplaceable.”

In a reference to the “Board of Peace” Fu said, “We shall not cherry-pick our commitments to the organization, nor shall we bypass the UN and create alternative mechanisms.”

Human rights advocates were even more blunt.

“It’s hardly surprising that very few governments want to join Trump’s wannabe-U.N., which so far looks more like a pay-to-play club of human rights abusers and war crimes suspects than a serious international organization,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director for Human Rights Watch. 

“Instead of handing Trump $1 billion checks to join his Board of Peace, governments should work on strengthening the UN,” Charbonneau added. 

The “Board of Peace” was initially framed as focusing on the genocidal war in Gaza and coordinating reconstruction and humanitarian efforts in the devastated territory.

However, its evolving mandate has renewed alarm that Gaza’s future could be shaped less by humanitarian priorities than by commercial interests. 

An American billionaire serving on the Trump-led “Board of Peace” promoted what he described as the enclave’s vast economic promise, citing a coastline worth at least $50 billion and “$115 billion of value” in the destroyed strip that “just needs to be unlocked and financed.” 

Such ambitious development proposals have previously sparked concern that Palestinians could be displaced, with critics warning that turning Gaza into a real estate “Riviera” would do little to ease suffering on the ground while potentially enriching billionaires.