UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the Iran conflict on Saturday that he deeply regretted that an opportunity for diplomacy had been "squandered."
He also told the 15-member body he was not in a position to confirm Israeli reports of the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Later, Iran's Ambassador to the UN Amir-Saeid Iravani said that the country was "exercising its inherent and lawful right of self-defense," in response to "aggression and large-scale war."
Iravani added that "all bases, facilities, and assets of [the] ‘hostile force’ shall be regarded as legitimate military targets."
IAEA to meet regarding US, Israeli strikes on Iran
The board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, will hold an emergency meeting on Monday at 9 a.m. to discuss US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday, the watchdog said in a statement.
The meeting was requested by Russia.
Any board member can call a meeting. Monday's emergency meeting will start an hour before a long-scheduled quarterly meeting of the board at which Iran's nuclear program was already on the agenda. Diplomats said there was no indication Iranian nuclear facilities were struck on Saturday.