UN Secretary General António Guterres condemns Iran attack after Israel ban

The United Nations secretary general has condemned Iranian strikes on Israel, after earlier being banned from the country for his initial response.

Speaking to the UN Security Council, António Guterres said it was high time to stop what he called the “deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence” in the Middle East.

In an earlier statement, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared Guterres persona non grata and an “anti-Israel secretary-general who lends support to terrorists”.

The comments were issued in response to Guterres initially calling for a ceasefire, but not specifically mentioning the Iran attack.

Addressing the council, the UN secretary general said he had condemned the attack in April, and “as should have been obvious yesterday in the context of the condemnation I expressed, I again strongly condemned yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.”

“These attacks paradoxically do not seem to support the cause of the Palestinian people, or reduce their suffering,” he said.

He also criticized Israel’s actions in the region, calling the military campaign in Gaza “the most deadly and destructive military campaign in my years as secretary general”.

On Tuesday, Iran launched about 180 ballistic missiles into Israel, with Israel saying most of them were intercepted.

In a statement after the attack on social media site X, formerly Twitter, Guterres said he condemned “the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation”.

Prior to Guterres remarks to the UN Security Council, Katz said in a statement that anyone who “cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil.”

He specifically criticized Guterres for “his anti-Israel policy since the beginning of the war”.

Tuesday’s attack by Iran is the latest in a series of escalations, starting almost a year ago with attacks on Israel by Hamas, and recently involving increased fighting between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October by Hamas gunmen, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostage taken.

Since the attack, a military campaign in Gaza has now killed a total of 41,689 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Over the course of the conflict, there have been a number of clashes between Israel and the United Nations about the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.

There has also been friction between Israel and the UN over the role of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

In January, Israel alleged that a number of the agency’s staff members had been involved in the 7 October attacks.

In response to this, the agency launched an investigation – with a number of its international funders withdrawing support for it, before later reinstating it. In August, nine staff members were dismissed over potential involvement in the attacks.

During the conflict, UNRWA has criticized Israel for air strikes in Gaza which have killed its staff members.