United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members on Wednesday urged stepped-up diplomatic efforts to prevent a wider Middle East conflict after the killings of Hamas and Hezbollah's leaders raised tensions.
The assassination of Palestinian diplomatic figure and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was occured in Iranian capital Tehran early on Wednesday less than 24 hours after Hezbollah's military commander Shukr was killed in an Israeli raid on the Lebanese capital Beirut.
In response, the Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told an emergency meeting of the council, which his government requested following the early-morning assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
He said: "The Security Council should take immediate steps to hold Israel accountable for this act of aggression. This includes considering the imposition of sanctions and other measures that are necessary to prevent further violations and to signal that Israeli malevolent activities will not be tolerated by the international community."
"We fear the region is at the brink of all-out war," Japan's deputy U.N. representative, Shino Mitsuko, said, calling for international efforts to prevent such a conflict.
In the same context, China, Russia, Algeria and others condemned Haniyeh's assassination, which Iran's U.N. ambassador called an act of terrorism.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and their alliance U.K. and Franc raised what they said was Iranian support for destabilizing actors in the region.
In his remarks, Fu Cong, China's ambassador to the U.N., affirmed that the failure to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza was responsible for worsening tensions.
"Countries with major influence must put more pressure and work more vigorously ... to put out the flames of war in Gaza."
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