What's In Blue

Posted Mon 28 Oct 2024
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Emergency Meeting on Israeli Airstrikes against Iran

This afternoon (28 October), the Security Council will convene for an emergency meeting on the airstrikes that Israel launched against Iran on 25 October. The meeting, which will be held under the agenda item “The situation in the Middle East”, was requested by Iran, supported by Algeria, China, and Russia. Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Mohamed Khaled Khiari is expected to brief.

The Israeli strikes were concentrated in the Iranian provinces of Tehran, Ilam, and Khuzestan and hit approximately 20 targets, which reportedly comprised Iranian missile manufacturing facilities as well as air defense systems protecting the country’s energy infrastructure, including oil refineries, a gas field, and a port. Prior to the operation, the US had reportedly urged Israel not to directly target Iranian energy or nuclear facilities out of concern that doing so could trigger a full-scale conflict between the countries. Four Iranian military personnel were killed in the strikes, according to the Iranian authorities.

In a 25 October statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that the airstrikes had been conducted “in response to the attacks by the Iranian regime against the State of Israel and its citizens in recent months”. The statement also cautioned Iran against retaliation, saying that Israel “reserves the right to defend its citizens if the Iranian regime continues attacks against the State of Israel and its civilians”. Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that it had achieved “all its objectives”, although independent damage assessments were not available at the time of writing.

In a 26 October statement, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the airstrikes as a “blatant violation” of international law and invoked the country’s right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter. It described Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon as the “main cause of tension and insecurity” in the region and called on the international community to mobilise against the country’s “warmongering”. Potentially signalling a desire for de-escalation, however, the statement said that Iran was aware of its “responsibilities for regional peace and security”, and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reportedly refrained from explicit calls for retaliation in public remarks following the strikes, apparently delegating the decision to the country’s Supreme National Security Council.

The airstrikes marked the latest escalation in the ongoing crisis in the Middle East since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Following Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, several fronts have opened between Israel and the constellation of armed groups comprising Iran’s “axis of resistance” in the region, including in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria. In April, Iran and Israel engaged in direct military confrontation for the first time when Iran launched drone and missile strikes against Israel in response to the latter’s bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Israel retaliated by allegedly striking an air defense battery in Iran, although it did not officially claim responsibility for the attack. Subsequently, following Israel’s assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in September, Iran conducted another attack against Israel on 1 October, launching approximately 200 ballistic missiles against the country, most of which were intercepted by Israeli and US air defense systems. The latest Israeli airstrikes—which the country this time officially acknowledged—were in response to the 1 October assault.

In a 26 October statement, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric said that the Secretary-General was “deeply alarmed” by the continued escalation in the Middle East and reiterated his appeal 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”. Khiari may reiterate similar messages at today’s meeting.

Security Council members are likely to express divergent positions about the recent escalation. Several Council members—including Algeria, China, and Russia—condemned the Israeli strikes, attributed the rising tensions to the ongoing war in Gaza, and called for de-escalation. By contrast, a senior White House official said in a 25 October press briefing call that the US had in its bilateral engagements with Israel encouraged it to conduct an operation that was “targeted and proportional with low risk of civilian harm, and that appears to have been precisely what transpired”.

The Council held an emergency meeting on 14 April to discuss the first Iranian strike against Israel. Another urgent Council meeting was held on 2 October to discuss escalating tensions in the Middle East. After the exchange of hostilities between Israel and Iran in April, Council members apparently failed to agree on draft press statements condemning the respective strikes due to their differing positions on the regional situation and divergent views on which party was responsible for escalating tensions.

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