Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls on opponents to “stay away from the brink of a major conflict.”
The United Nations has called on Iran and Israel to exercise restraint amid the threat of full-scale direct conflict between the two in the Middle East.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned rivals on Sunday at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council against further escalating tensions in the region with further attacks, following mutual airstrikes over the past two weeks. However, Iran and Israel focused on accusing each other of being a threat to peace.
“Neither the region nor the world can afford more war,” Guterres said at the meeting. “Now is the time to defuse and de-escalate.
“It’s time to step back from the brink,” he declared.
Iran fired hundreds of drones and missiles into Israel late Saturday. The war in Gaza has sparked regular clashes between Iran’s regional allies – such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis – and Israel. The direct attack, in retaliation for an attack on the Iranian embassy compound in Syria on April 1, which is still unclaimed by Israel, marked a serious escalation.
At the meeting, Robert Wood, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, urged the 15-member panel to unequivocally condemn Iran’s attack. He stressed that the United Nations Security Council was committed not to let Iran’s actions go unanswered and that the United States would consider additional measures in the coming days to hold Iran accountable.
“Let me be clear: If Iran or its proxies take action against the United States or further action against Israel, Iran will be held accountable,” he said.
Heated exchange
The meeting saw heated exchanges between Iran and Israel, with their representatives calling on the council to impose sanctions on each other.
Iranian UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said his country’s action against Israel was necessary and proportionate.
He claimed that the UN Security Council had “failed in its duty to maintain international peace and security” by failing to condemn the Israeli attack on its diplomatic mission in Syria.
Tehran has “no choice” but to respond, he said, adding that his country is not seeking “escalation or war” but will respond to any “threat or aggression.”
“It is time for the Security Council to live up to its responsibilities and address the real threat to international peace and security,” Iravani said, calling on it to “take urgent punitive measures to constrain this regime.” [Israel] to stop a genocide against the people of Gaza.”
Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said at the meeting that Iran was “the world’s number one sponsor of terror” and a “pirate state.”
“The mask has fallen and so must the world’s complacency,” he continued. “The only option is to condemn Iran … and make sure it knows that the world will no longer remain inactive.”
“This attack crossed every red line and Israel reserves the right to retaliate,” he said.
Erdan called on the U.N. Security Council to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s elite military force, as a terrorist organization and “impose all possible sanctions on Iran before it is too late.”
The rising tensions between Iran and Israel come against the backdrop of Israel’s six-month-long war on Gaza, which began after the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 and resulted in the deaths of 1,139 people, mostly civilians.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 33,729 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.