At UN Security Council, Israel's ambassador slams Iranian hypocrisy
Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon, slammed Iran's UN representative as "a wolf disguised as a diplomat," during a fiery session of the Security Council on Saturday, hours before the US struck three nuclear sites in Iran.
Following the US strike on nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, which President Donald Trump said had been "totally obliterated," Iran's Ambassador to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani demanded another "emergency meeting" of the Security Council calling for condemnation "in the strongest possible terms" of the US actions and for it not to go "unpunished."
"The Islamic Republic of Iran urgently requests the Security Council to convene an emergency meeting without delay to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression," Iravani wrote in a letter to UN Secretary General António Guterres.
Iravani called the US strikes "premeditated, and unprovoked," and said it was a "flagrant violation of international law."
Earlier, Danon, in response to similar allegations against Israel, highlighted the council's hypcoricy, callilng the Iranian representative a "wolf disguised as a diplomat."
"How dare a representative of a regime that finances, arms and orchestrates terrorism all over the world, ask for compassion from this Council?" Danon said during a council session on Saturday. "You are not a victim. You are not a diplomat. You are a wolf disguised as a diplomat, and we are done pretending otherwise."
Following the US strike on Iran, which included five to six bunker buster bombs dropped on Fordow nuclear site and some 30 Tomahawk missiles fired against sites in Natanz and Isfahan, Danon told Fox News Digital that "after decades of ignoring the International community, Iran is trying to play victim and ask for sympathy from the Security Council."
"Sec Gen Guterres should be thanking President Trump for taking action and making the world a safer place — instead of condemning the U.S. for promoting peace through strength," Danon told Fox News Digital.
"After years of the UN's incompetence that allowed Iran to accelerate its dangerous nuclear weapons program, the U.S. has acted forcefully to prevent a destructive nuclear Iran from threatening Israel, the U.S. and the free world," he said.
"I am gravely alarmed by the use of force by the United States against Iran today. This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security," Guterres said in a statement.
"There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world," he added, calling on UN member states to "de-escalate and to uphold their obligations under the UN Charter and other rules of international law."
An Iranian missile attack on Israel on Sunday, hours after the US struck nuclear facilities in Iran, scored direct hits in the cities of Tel Aviv, Haifa and Nes Ziona, causing widespread destruction but no immediate fatalities, Israeli authorities said.
Images shared by Israel's first responders showed multistorey buildings with their sides blown away and windows shattered and single family homes in ruins, as rescue crews searched the debris for survivors.
Israel's first aid agency, Magen David Adom, said there were no initial reports of fatalities but that more than 16 people were injured and evacuated to hospital.
In a press briefing, Tel Aviv's Mayor Ron Huldai said the damage in his city was "very extensive but in terms of human life, we are okay."
"Houses here were hit very, very badly," he said, adding that "fortunately, one of them was slated for demolition and reconstruction, so there were no residents inside. Those who were in the shelter are all safe and well."
In Nes Ziona, a town just south of Tel Aviv, a house was directly hit by a missile and the surrounding buildings destroyed, but, according to Israeli media reports, the families were in their shelter.
Israel's home front command on Sunday put the country back onto emergency footing, days after some of the restrictions on commercial centers and larger gatherings had been eased.
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