Iran Israel war: Iran UN envoy says country had no choice but to respond

Iran’s Ambassador to the United Stations, addressing an emergency meeting of the Security Council, stated that the Islamic Republic was exercising its “inherent right to self-defence” and had “no choice but to respond” to Israel.

“The Security Council… failed in its duty to maintain international peace and security,” Iran’s envoy Amir Saeid Iravani insisted.

Therefore, Tehran “had no choice” but to respond, he said, adding that his country does “not seek escalation or war,” but will respond to any “threat or aggression.”

FOLLOW LATEST UPDATES ON THE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS

He also lashed out at Israel.

“It is time for the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility and address the real threat to international peace and security,” Iravani said.

The body “must take urgent and punitive measures to compel this regime to stop a genocide against the people of Gaza.”

The rising tensions come against the backdrop of Israel’s six-month-old war against Hamas in Gaza, which began after the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack in Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,729 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Since the 1979 Iranian revolution Israel has been considered a sworn enemy by the Islamic republic, which calls for Israel’s destruction.

Until now, Tehran had refrained from attacking Israel head-on, and the two countries have opted instead to confronting each other through third parties.

On Sunday United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged restraint, telling the emergency meeting that “neither the region nor the world can afford more war.”

“Now is the time to defuse and de-escalate,” he said.

Guterres also repeated his condemnation of Iran’s strikes on Israel, and the attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus.

“It’s time to step back from the brink,” Guterres said.