It is now time to “defuse and de-escalate” the conflict, warned Guterres, who called for “maximum restraint” from all sides.

On Sunday night, Iran directly attacked Israel from its territory for the first time in history. Tehran had described the drone and missile attacks as retaliation for an attack attributed to Israel on an Iranian consulate building in Damascus, in which two generals of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were killed, among others, on April 1. According to Israeli data, almost all of the 300 drones and missiles fired by Iran were repelled.

Israel requested the meeting of the UN Security Council in New York. In his speech, Guterres once again condemned the Iranian attacks on Israel and also the attack on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus. “It is time to step back from the brink,” Guterres said. "It is important to avoid any action that could lead to major military conflicts on multiple fronts in the Middle East."