Israel and Iran accused one other Sunday at the United Nations of being the primary threat to Middle Eastern peace, with each urging the Security Council to slap sanctions on its sworn enemy.
“The mask is off. Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, has revealed its true face as a regional and global destabilizer,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said an emergency Security Council meeting summoned following Tehran’s extraordinary strike on Israel overnight.
“The mask comes off and the gloves must come on,” he said, pleading with the body to “take action.”
Erdan requested that the Security Council identify the Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic Republic’s ideological army, as a terrorist organization and “impose all possible sanctions on Iran before it’s too late.”
He specifically mentioned the “snapback” provision, which permits members of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal—from which the US withdrew in 2018—to reimpose international sanctions against Tehran.
“We have a collective responsibility as members of the Security Council to ensure that Iran complies with the council’s resolutions and ceases its violations of the charter,” said Robert Wood, Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN.
In the coming days, the US will “explore additional measures to hold Iran accountable.”
Iran conducted its first direct attack on Israel late Saturday, firing more than 300 missiles and drones.
Almost all were intercepted by Israel and other countries, including the US, Jordan, and the United Kingdom.
Iran claimed its attack was in response to a deadly April 1 air strike on Tehran’s consulate building in Syria’s capital Damascus, which was largely blamed on Israel.
Seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards members were killed in the raid, including two senior generals.
On ‘the brink’
Iran’s UN Ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the extraordinary meeting that the Islamic Republic was exercising its “inherent right to self-defence.”
“The Security Council… failed in its duty to maintain international peace and security,” Iravani said in a statement.
Tehran “had no choice” but to reply, he claimed, adding that his country does “not seek escalation or war,” but will answer to any “threat or aggression.”
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 in a statement.
The U.N. Security Council “must take urgent and punitive measures to compel this regime to stop a genocide against the people of Gaza.”
The escalating tensions occur against the backdrop of Israel’s six-month-old war against Hamas in Gaza, which began with the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,170 people, the majority of them were civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli numbers.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,729 people in Gaza, with the majority being women and children.
Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Islamic Republic has considered Israel a sworn enemy, calling for its destruction.
Until now, Tehran has refrained from directly attacking Israel, and the two countries have instead chosen to engage in conflict through third parties.
On Sunday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for moderation, addressing an emergency conference that “neither the region nor the world can afford more war.”
“Now is the time to defuse and de-escalate,” he told reporters.
Guterres also condemned Iran’s strikes on Israel, as well as the attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus.
“It’s time to pull back from the brink,” Guterres stated.