Iran’s mission to the United Nations released a statement about the attack on Israel on Saturday evening, saying that Iran’s retaliation “can be deemed concluded,” unless Israel or the United States escalates further.
“Conducted on the strength of Article 51 of the U.N. Charter pertaining to legitimate defense, Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus,” the Iranian mission said.
“The matter can be deemed concluded. However, should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe,” the statement continued.
“It is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime, from which the U.S. MUST STAY AWAY!” the Iranian mission concluded, with capitalization in the original.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization, said on Saturday that it attacked Israel with a swarm of drones and missiles in retaliation for “numerous crimes of the Zionist regime including the strike on the consulate section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus and martyrdom of a number of military commanders and advisers in Syria.”
The Iranians were referring to an airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1 that killed the commander of the IRGC’s foreign operations unit, the Qods Force, in Lebanon and Syria, along with several other high-ranking IRGC officers. Israel has not formally taken responsibility for the Damascus strike.
Article 51 of the U.N. Charter discusses the right of member states to defend themselves against attack, although such action is supposed to be coordinated with the U.N. Security Council.
