United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday urged for a complete stop of “all hostile acts” in the Middle East, after Israel and Iran launched missile assaults against one another over Iran’s presence in Syria.
Guterres’ comments came a day after Israel responded to what its military reported was an Iranian missile attack on forces in the Golan Heights, which is a territory Israel took from Syria in a war more than fifty years ago.
Israel’s response was launching a barrage of missiles and airstrikes on Iranian military targets in Syria.
The White House supported Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Thursday, saying that the country has a right to defend itself in the face of Iranian aggression.
Meanwhile, Israel has called for the U.N. Security Council and Guterres to condemn the Iranian rocket attack, which the Israeli military stated was unsuccessful.
According to The Associated Press, Iran’s foreign ministry blamed the Israeli air strikes in Syria on “fabricated and baseless excuses.”
The short conflict between Israel and Iran didn’t come as a surprise as tensions in the region grew exponentially after President Donald Trump announced that he pulls out the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear deal that sought to curb Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear arsenal in exchange for sanctions relief.
That withdrawal angered Iranian leaders, who accuse the White House of avoiding its international commitments and seeking to destabilize the Middle East.
Trump has been speaking for years against the nuclear accord, saying that it failed to halt Iran’s activities beyond its nuclear pursuits, such as Iran’s support for groups deemed terrorist organizations by the U.S. The withdrawal from the deal caused deep concern among leaders in Europe and the Middle East fearing that it could increase the hostilities in the region, particularly between Iran and Israel.
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