Iran says UN attack on Israel ‘must not go unanswered’

Iran’s top diplomat condemned Israel’s unprecedented attack on several military sites in the Islamic Republic and vowed to respond to the latest escalation amid a year-long Middle East conflict in a letter obtained by Newsweek.

The letter was attributed to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and sent on Saturday to united nations Secretary-General (UN) António Guterres and President of the UN Security Council, Pascale Christine Baeriswyl, through Iran’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani.

It came less than 24 hours after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced “precise and targeted strikes against military targets in a number of areas in Iran”, which it said was in response to the missile attack of Iran against Israel on October 1. That Iranian attack. it was also described as retaliation for previous Israeli operations in the region, including the assassination of top Iranian and Iranian-allied personnel.

In the letter, Araghchi called on the UN leadership to condemn “the illegal and aggressive actions of the Zionist regime, which constitute a grave violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a flagrant violation of international law and the United Nations Charter.”

Such attacks, according to Araghchi, “also pose a serious threat to international peace and security and further destabilize an already fragile region.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, in accordance with the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and international law, reserves its inherent right to respond legally and legitimately to these criminal attacks at the appropriate time,” Araghchi added.

Newsweek has contacted the IDF for comment.

The extent of the damage suffered by Iran as a result of the first acknowledged Israeli attack on Iranian territory remains uncertain. Both sides hailed the performance of their forces as victories.

After the operation ended, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Friday that the Israeli Air Force had targeted “missile production facilities used by Iran in its attacks on the State of Israel over the past year” as well as “Iran’s surface-to-air missile “. arrays and Iranian air capabilities that were intended to restrict Israel’s freedom of air operation in Iran”.

He said that “Israel now has a wider freedom of air operation in Iran” and that “we will be forced to respond” if Iran chooses to launch a new round of retaliation.

Iranian officials and media played down the scale of the attack, which was said to have targeted sites in Khuzestan, Ilam and Tehran provinces. Iran’s military issued a statement on Saturday saying most of the enemy missiles were successfully intercepted, although some sites were hit and four soldiers were killed during the operation.

Araghchi conveyed these results to the UN leadership and stated that “Had Iran’s air defense not been successfully achieved, Israeli aggression could have resulted in significant losses.”

He added: “In light of the consequences of the Israeli regime’s systematic and ongoing aggression, the Islamic Republic of Iran urges the United Nations Secretary-General and the Security Council to take a firm stand and condemn the Israeli regime for committing these acts of aggression. firmly and unequivocally, demonstrating to the international community that such flagrant violations of international law and the UN Charter will not go unanswered.”

“In addition,” Araghchi said, “the Islamic Republic of Iran calls on the President of the Security Council to convene an urgent meeting to address this grave violation and illegal actions and to hold this criminal regime accountable.”

The attack was yet another example of the decades-long conflict between Iran and Israel, long played out in the shadows, now becoming more and more a direct confrontation.

Since Hamasa Palestinian militant group, launched a massive surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Iran and its Axis Resistance allies launched attacks on the country from Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen to pressure Israel into a ceasefire in The Gaza Strip. The expanding conflict has seen Israel expand its targeting of enemies abroad in both claimed and unclaimed operations.

While Iran has long aided non-state actors opposed to Israel, the Islamic Republic was first brought directly into line in early April after Israeli warplanes killed senior officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at the compound embassy of Tehran in the Syrian capital Damascus. Less than two weeks later, the IRGC, in partnership with various factions of the Axis of Resistance, launched a combined missile and drone attack against Israel.

The IDF reported that most incoming projectiles were intercepted and little damage was sustained. A few days later, Israel carried out an airstrike against an air defense site located near Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility in Esfahan.

In late July, the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Tehran after attending the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not directly claimed responsibility for his death, but the act has been widely attributed to its intelligence services which have a history of conducting operations in Iran.

The conflict continued to escalate over the next two months, with another unclaimed attack linked to Israel in September detonating communications devices mainly used by the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, killing dozens of people in Lebanon and seriously injuring Iran’s ambassador. That same month, the IDF killed Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC General Abbas Nilforushan in an airstrike in Beirut.

Shortly after the IDF announced the start of the ground offensive in southern Lebanon, Iran launched a second, larger-scale missile attack on Israel in early October. Once again, the IDF said most of the attacks were intercepted, although a number of direct hits were detected on sites such as the Nevatim Air Base.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to respond, some targets discussed included Iran’s nuclear, oil and military infrastructure. The White House, however, appeared to discourage strikes against nuclear and oil sites due to fears of further escalation and potential fallout.

In the wake of the latest Israeli attack, a senior official of the president Joe BidenHis administration told reporters on Friday that the US was ready to help Israel against any further Iranian attacks, but also said that “this should be the end of direct military exchange between Israel and Iran”.

“In terms of the direct military exchange between Israel and Iran, we believe that it should complete that direct exchange,” the senior administration official said. “And again, if Iran chooses to respond, we are fully prepared to defend Israel and support it, and there will be consequences if Iran makes this unfortunate decision.”