UN Security Council to meet on Sunday amid Iran's attack on Israel

WASHINGTON

The UN Security Council will meet Sunday after Israel demanded an urgent meeting following an Iranian airborne attack.

The 15-member Council will gather at 4 p.m. local time in New York, according to a schedule that was released late Saturday.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, requested Saturday that the Council convene to condemn Iran for the "grave violations and immediately act to designate the IRGC (Iran's Revolutionary Guards) as a terrorist organization."

In a letter to the Council's president, Erdan said the attack is a "serious threat" to global peace and security, indicating that he expects the Council to use every means to take concrete action against Iran.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and General Assembly President Dennis Francis separately voiced concern about the attack and urged Israel and Iran to exercise the utmost restraint to avoid further escalation of tension in the region.

Iran began an airborne attack Saturday against Israel in retaliation for an April 1 airstrike on its diplomatic facility in the Syrian capital of Damascus. The strike killed at least seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two top generals.

Tehran has accused Israel of carrying out the attack and vowed to respond. Tel Aviv has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack but it has for months carried out several strikes against Iranian targets across Syria.

Iran and Hezbollah, its main ally in Lebanon, have said the attack will not go unpunished.