Iran and Israel trade threats at UN after weekend strikes

US tells Security Council it 'should be the end of the direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran'

Iran's UN representative Amir Saeid Iravani attends a meeting at the UN Security Council. AFP

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Iran and Israel traded threats at the UN Security Council on Monday, with Iranian ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani condemning the strikes on Tehran at the weekend.

Mr Iravani said Iran has the “inherent right” to respond to the attacks, while Israel warned of “swift and decisive” consequences if it did.

He called Israel's strikes an “act of aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran, an egregious and severe violation of international law and the United Nations Charter”.

Israel carried out the attack in retaliation for a barrage of ballistic missiles fired by Iran earlier this month.

Iran said the October 1 attack on Israel was in response to the assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general Abbas Nilforoushan.

“This aggressive, aggressive attack is part of a broader, sustained pattern of aggression and unchecked impunity with which Israel continues to destabilise the entire region, most notably through its ongoing aggression, ethnic cleansing and war crimes against the Palestinian and Lebanese people,” Mr Iravani said.

He claimed several times during his speech to the council that the US was indirectly involved in the attacks, but Washington's UN envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield denied any participation or assistance.

The US has said, however, that it worked to limit Israel's strikes.

“The United States does not want us to see further escalation,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield told the council. “We believe this should be the end of the direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran.”

Mr Iravani said that Iran reserves the right to respond – but Israel warned it against doing so.

“Israel does not seek war. Our mission, our commitment, is peace, but peace cannot be achieved under the shadow of missiles and the threat of eradication,” Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon said.

“Our response was measured and proportionate. We took every precaution to focus our operations on military targets, ensuring minimal collateral impact.

“Israel's commitment to extend the stark contrast to the wholesale violence of Iran's attacks. Our actions reflect our responsibility, not only to our citizens, but to the entire region.”

Mr Danon briefly addressed Iranian leaders, issuing a warning: “Israel has shown restraint. Any further aggression will be met with consequences that are swift and decisive.”

Israel and the US pointed fingers at Tehran's role in destabilising the region by backing proxy groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Iran “seeks to gaslight and deflect, to claim the role of victim, while continuing to sow chaos across the region”, Ms Thomas-Greenfield said, calling on the country to “stop pouring gasoline on the fire of regional conflict”.

“We will not allow the region's future to be dictated by Tehran and its proxies, whose actions before, on and since October 7 have put millions of innocent civilians at risk.”

Mr Iravani said that Israel was the one destabilising the region through their strikes on Lebanon, Syria and Yemen over the past year.

Iraq's representative condemned Israel over its military's use of its airspace without Baghdad's approval, and Syria expressed outrage over strikes carried out against it by Israel during the Iran attack.