Iran attacks Israel after US destroys nuclear sites, Trump calls for negotiations

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations sharply criticized the United States over strikes targeting nuclear facilities in Iran over the weekend.

Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani told the U.N. Security Council during an emergency meeting on Sunday that the U.S. strikes continue a policy of intervention in the affairs of sovereign nations.

“While the representative of the United States continues to make baseless accusations against Iran, the international community is well aware of the well-documented and dark record of military intervention,” he said. “Illegal use of force against other sovereign states, and its sponsorship of terrorism by the United States in the Middle East and across the world.”

Iravani further accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of hijacking U.S. foreign policy and dragging it into another conflict.

“America has once more recklessly chosen to sacrifice its own security merely to safeguard Netanyahu,” he said. “Once again, the world has witnessed the blatant corruption of the US political system and its leaders as an independent, peace-seeking nation.”

During his remarks, Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., called the U.S. strikes a “righteous act.”

“This was not a war of choice. This action was a necessity,” Danon said. “It was a righteous act for the United States, for Israel, for the Middle East and for the world.”

Danon noted that diplomacy was tried “over and over” with regard to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Many nations here in this room engaged in diplomacy with determination and good faith. But the regime in Tehran had other plans,” he said. “It used the negotiating table as camouflage, a delay tactic, a way to buy time while building missiles and enriching uranium. Iran negotiated agreements it never intended to keep. It made commitments it never honored. It answered deadlines with defiance and met oversight with obstruction.”

“The free world gave it every chance. We all gave it months. We gave it years. We gave it every possible offramp,” he added. “Iran would not move, so it had to be moved.”