Iran and Israel each appealed to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to strongly condemn the other for recent deadly attacks. The council called for calm in a region it fears is sliding toward a wider war.
“The Security Council should take immediate steps to hold Israel accountable for this act of aggression,” Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told an emergency meeting of the council, which his government requested following the early-morning assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
“This includes considering the imposition of sanctions and other measures that are necessary to prevent further violations and to signal that Israeli malevolent activities will not be tolerated by the international community,” Iravani said.
Iran and Hamas blame Israel for the airstrike that killed the Hamas leader, who was in Iran attending the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not claimed the attack but is widely presumed to have carried it out.
Israeli officials, however, were quick to take responsibility for an airstrike on Tuesday in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, that killed senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur. Israel said Shukur was responsible for a rocket attack Saturday in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 Arab Druze children playing on a soccer field. Hezbollah has denied responsibility.
“This operation sends a clear message: We will defend ourselves and respond with great force against those who harm us,” Israeli Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Miller told the council.
He urged the council to hold Iran accountable with new sanctions. Iran funds and arms both Hamas and Hezbollah.
