By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Iran told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that Israel “must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests” as the U.N. secretary-general warned that the Middle East was in a “moment of maximum peril.”
Israel has said it will retaliate against Iran’s April 13 missile and drone attack, which Tehran says was carried out in response to a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Damascus earlier this month.
“In case of any use of force by the Israeli regime and violating our sovereignty, the Islamic Republic of Iran will not hesitate a bit to assert its inherent rights to give a decisive and proper response to it to make the regime regret its actions,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.
His remarks came after an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said earlier on Thursday that Iran could review its “nuclear doctrine” following Israeli threats.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting on the Middle East, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged maximum restraint.
“It is high time to end the bloody cycle of retaliation. It is high time to stop,” Guterres said. “The international community must work together to prevent any actions that could push the entire Middle East over the edge, with a devastating impact on civilians.”
Speaking earlier on Thursday in the Security Council, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan criticized Amirabdollahian’s presence at the world body.
“He is here to make a mockery of you. He is here to show you all – in your suits and with your diplomatic niceties – that his country can launch an attack on another member state on Saturday, and then he can come here on Thursday to lecture you all on human rights and international law,” Erdan said.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Paul Grant and Deepa Babington)
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