UN Security Council to convene Monday over Israel's attack on Iran

Swiss UN mission said meeting requested by Iran with the support of Algeria, China and Russia

NEW YORK:

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Monday to discuss Israel's attack on Iran, council president Switzerland said on Sunday. The Swiss UN mission said the meeting had been requested by Iran with the support of Algeria, China and Russia.

“Israeli regime's actions constitute a grave threat to international peace and security and further destabilise an already fragile region," Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a letter to the 15-member council on Saturday.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, in alignment with the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and under international law, reserves its inherent right to legal and legitimate response to these criminal attacks at the appropriate time,” he wrote.

Scores of Israeli jets completed three waves of strikes before dawn on Saturday against missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran, Israel's military said.

It was retaliation for Iran's October 1 attack on Israel with about 200 ballistic missiles, and Israel warned its heavily armed arch-foe not to hit back after the latest strike.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon rejected Iran's complaint at the United Nations, saying in a statement on Sunday that Iran was "trying to act against us in the diplomatic arena with the ridiculous claim that Israel has violated international law."

"As we have stated time and time again, we have the right and duty to defend ourselves and will use all the means at our disposal to protect the citizens of Israel," Danon said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed “to all parties to cease all military actions, including in Gaza and Lebanon, exert maximum efforts to prevent an all-out regional war and return to the path of diplomacy,” his spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.