The United States (U.S.) warned the United Nations (UN) Security Council on Wednesday that Iran should not attack them, nor Israel.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “the deadly vicious circle of violence in the Middle East must end”.
“Time is running out,” he said at a meeting of the UN Security Council.
The Security Council met after Israel killed the leader of Hezbollah and launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon, to which Iran responded by attacking Israel with ballistic missiles.
“Our actions have been defensive in nature. Let me be clear: the Iranian regime will be held responsible for its actions. And we strongly warn against Iran – or its proxies –taking actions against the United States, or further actions against Israel,” said U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
“There can be no doubt: Iranian support to regional proxies has directly contributed to the crises in Gaza and Lebanon. At the center of Iran’s efforts since October 7th to sow chaos and threaten regional stability is the IRGC, which has repeatedly flouted and violated this Council’s resolutions. I can’t believe I have to say this, but I will, because the IRGC and its allies are out. They’re peddling propaganda,” she added.
“The decision to launch nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel was not in any way defensive. The IRGC was not protecting Iran from threats from another Member State. Instead, the IRGC was acting in solidarity with Hizballah after the killing of Nasrallah – who led a terrorist group that has the blood of thousands of Americans, Lebanese, and Israelis on its hands.
I can think of no starker example of state support of terrorism than launching ballistic missiles to avenge the death of a terrorist leader. It is indefensible and it is unacceptable. And we have a collective responsibility, as members of the Security Council, to impose additional sanctions on the IRGC for supporting terrorism, and for flouting so many of this Council’s resolutions. If this Council sits on its hands, what message will that send? I fear that silence and inaction will only invite the IRGC to repeat attacks like what we saw yesterday, and on April 13th of this year, again and again and again,” she concluded.
Thomas-Greenfield said the council should condemn Iran’s attack and respond to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards with “serious consequences.”
“We have a collective responsibility, as members of the Security Council, to impose additional sanctions on the Revolutionary Guards for supporting terrorism and for ignoring so many resolutions of this Council,” she said.
Guterres said he strongly condemned Iran’s attack on Israel.
Israel’s foreign minister said earlier Wednesday that he was being banned from entering the country because he did not condemn the Iranian attack.
In a letter to the Security Council on Tuesday, Iran justified the attack on Israel as self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, citing Israel’s “acts of aggression” including violations of Iranian sovereignty.
“Iran… fully respecting the principle of distinction under international humanitarian law targeted only the regime’s military and security infrastructure with its defensive missile attacks,” the letter states.
Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon criticized the Iranian argument on Wednesday.
“It was a calculated attack on the civilian population,” he told reporters before the council meeting. “Israel will not pass over this aggression in silence. Israel will respond. Our response will be decisive and yes, it will be painful, but unlike Iran we will act fully in accordance with international law.”
