United Nations, United States:
Israel and Iran accused each other at the United Nations on Sunday of being the main threat to peace in the Middle East and each called on the Security Council to impose sanctions on their sworn enemies.
“The mask is off,” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, told an emergency Security Council meeting after the unprecedented attack in Tehran. Iran, the world’s top sponsor of terrorism, has exposed itself as a destabilizing factor for the region and the world. “attacked Israel overnight.
“The mask is off, the gloves have to be on,” he said, imploring the body to “take action.”
Erdan asked the Security Council to designate the Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic Republic’s ideological army, as a terrorist organization and “impose all possible sanctions on Iran before it is too late.”
He specifically mentioned the “snapback” mechanism, which allows members of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (which the United States withdrew from in 2018) to reimpose international sanctions on Tehran.
“As members of the Security Council, we have a collective responsibility to ensure that Iran complies with Council resolutions and ceases its violations of the Charter,” said U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood.
In the coming days, the United States will “explore additional measures to hold Iran accountable.”
On Saturday night, Iran launched its first direct attack on its old enemy Israel, launching more than 300 missiles and drones.
Nearly all are intercepted by Israel and other countries including the United States, Jordan and the United Kingdom.
Iran said the attack was in response to a deadly airstrike on Tehran’s consulate building in the Syrian capital Damascus on April 1, which was widely blamed on Israel.
That attack killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen, including two top generals.
– on the edge’ –
Speaking at the emergency meeting, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeed Irawani insisted that the Islamic Republic was exercising its “inherent right to self-defence.”
“The Security Council…has failed in its duty to maintain international peace and security,” Irawani said.
Tehran therefore had “no choice” but to respond, he said, adding that his country “does not seek escalation or war” but would respond to any “threat or aggression.”
He also lashed out at Israel.
“It is time for the Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities and address real threats to international peace and security,” Irawani said.
The agency “must take urgent and punitive measures to force the regime to stop its genocide against the people of Gaza.”
The escalating tensions come against the backdrop of Israel’s six-month war with Hamas in Gaza, which began after the Palestinian group launched an attack on Israel on October 7, according to an AFP tally. Resulting in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians. Numbers about Israel.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,729 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, Israel has been regarded as a mortal enemy by the Islamic Republic, which has demanded its destruction.
So far, Tehran has refrained from attacking Israel head-on, and the two countries have instead chosen to confront them through a third party.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged restraint on Sunday, telling an emergency meeting that “neither the region nor the world can afford more wars.”
“Now is the time to defuse and de-escalate,” he said.
Guterres also once again condemned Iran’s attacks on Israel and the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
“It’s time to step back from the cliff,” Guterres said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
