The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, recalled this Sunday that international law prohibits “retaliatory actions that include the use of force.” He said this before the Security Council in the emergency session convened this Sunday, a day after the massive Iranian attack with missiles and drones against Israel.

Guterres’ call appears directed both at Iran – which justified Saturday’s attack as an act of retaliation for the bombing of its consulate in Damascus – and at Israel, which today said it reserves the right to respond to Iran’s attacks.

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“The Middle East is on the brink of the abyss. The people of the region face the real danger of a devastating large-scale conflict. Now is the time to calm down and reduce tension. Now is the time for maximum moderation. Now is the time to step away from the abyss,” he stated.

Furthermore, Guterres said that “neither the region nor the world can afford more wars.”

The international community has a common responsibility to prevent an escalation of the conflict

The representatives of Iran, Israel and Syria are invited to this emergency session, who are expected to speak after the intervention of the fifteen members of the Council.

Guterres insisted three times on the “common responsibility” that the international community has to avoid an escalation between Iran and Israel, achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, guarantee the release of hostages held by Hamas and prevent a deterioration in violence. in the West Bank.

The UN leader acknowledged that both Israel and Iran have invoked the founding charter of the UN to justify their attitude, but questioned both countries: Iran for having launched “a large-scale attack” against Israel, and Israel (without name him) for having attacked the Iranian consulate on April 1, which enjoys “diplomatic inviolability.”

”It is vital that we avoid any action that could lead to a major confrontation on multiple fronts in the Middle East (where) civilians are already paying the highest price,” he warned.

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Guterres again called on Sunday for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel, which started the conflict in the Palestinian territory.

What Israel said at the UN Security Council

Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called on the Security Council to “unequivocally condemn Iran for this serious violation” and “act to designate the Revolutionary Guard, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, as a terrorist organization.” ”It is time for the Security Council to take concrete measures against the Iranian threat,” he added in a letter to the Security Council.

According to the Israeli military, Iran sent “a swarm of 300 killer drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles” overnight from Saturday to Sunday, an attack that the Israelis claim to have largely thwarted. Since the Iranian revolution of 1979, Israel has been the sworn enemy of the Islamic Republic. But until now Tehran had refrained from attacking Israel frontally and the two countries were used to confronting each other through third parties, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah.

The Iranian offensive, dubbed “Honest Promise,” is a response to the attack that destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus and cost the lives of seven members of the Revolutionary Guard.

Iran accused Israel of this fact, which neither confirmed nor denied it. This attack came more than six months after the start of the Israeli-led offensive in the Gaza Strip against the Iranian-backed Palestinian group Hamas, which further increased tensions between the two enemy countries.