Israel and Iran accuse each other of threatening peace in the Middle East

– The mask has fallen. Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, has revealed its true face as a destabilizing factor in the region and in the world, Israel’s UN ambassador Gilad Erdan said when he addressed the members of the UN’s most powerful body on Sunday evening.

The emergency meeting took place as a result of Iran’s rocket and drone attacks against Israel on Saturday night and Sunday night.

– The mask falls off and the gloves have to be put on, Erdan continued, urging the Security Council to take action.

– The Security Council must act today and condemn Iran for terrorism, he said.

Erdan urged the Security Council to “introduce all possible sanctions against Iran before it is too late”. He also advocated that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard must be labeled a terrorist organisation.

The US must look at measures

The US ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, announced in his speech that in the next few days the US will be looking for measures that can be used “to hold Iran accountable”.

– As members of the Security Council, we have a collective responsibility to ensure that Iran complies with the council’s resolutions, said Wood.

The US, UK and Jordan assisted Israel in the fight to avert what was Iran’s first ever direct attack on Israel. Altogether, Iran sent over 300 rockets and drones at Israel. Almost all were neutralized.

Iran calls it self-defense

Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani claimed in his speech at the Security Council that his country had no choice but to attack Israel.

He said the attack was in response to the Israeli airstrike on Iran’s consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus on April 1, in which two generals and five other members of the Revolutionary Guard were killed.

– The Security Council failed in its task of maintaining international peace and security, Iravani said, referring to the Israeli air strike.

– Therefore, Iran had no other choice but to respond to this, he said in his speech.

Iravani said Iran was exercising its “legitimate right to self-defense.”

The Iranian UN envoy added that Iran “does not want escalation or war”, but that the country will respond to any “threat or aggression”.

He reached out to Israel.

– It is time for the Security Council to fulfill its responsibility and deal with the real threat to international peace and security. The Security Council must act immediately with punitive measures to force this regime to stop the genocide against the people of Gaza, Iravani said.

– On the brink

Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, Tehran has seen Israel as its arch-enemy and has repeatedly called for Israel to be removed from the map.

Until now, Iran has refrained from attacking Israel directly. Instead, the two countries have confronted each other via third parties.

The emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was opened with a speech by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. He said that “neither the region nor the world can afford more war”.

– The Middle East is on the brink. The region’s population faces a real danger of a devastating full-scale conflict. Now is the time to step down, said the UN chief, who asked that the parties must exercise maximum restraint.