TEHRAN/WASHINGTON, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments related to Iran's massive drone and missile attack against Israel:
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres exchanged views on Iran's massive retaliatory military operation against Israel on Monday.
In a phone call on Monday night, the two sides also discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry early Tuesday.
Amir-Abdollahian said the Iranian armed forces' operation against the Israeli military was within the framework of the legitimate right to self-defense and international law.
The UN chief expressed satisfaction with Iran's position to stop further operations against Israel, saying, "We urge Israel not to take any retaliatory action in order to reduce tensions in the region in favor of establishing peace and prevent the spread of violence."
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday urged the United Nations to take more measures to defuse tensions in the Middle East, and reiterated his call for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
At his daily press conference, Lopez Obrador also urged Israel to avoid responding to the recent retaliatory attack launched by Iran on its territory.
"Let things remain as they are ... if not, it would escalate the conflict," the president told reporters at the National Palace in Mexico City.
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The Qatari emir on Monday stressed the need to reduce escalation in the region in a call with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani stressed the need to reduce all forms of escalation and avoid expanding the conflict in the region, reported the Qatar News Agency.
During the call made by the Qatari emir, the two sides stressed "the necessity of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories to reach a permanent and final solution to the Palestinian cause that achieves a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region," it said.
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U.S. President Joe Biden reiterated his country's commitment to Israel's security on Monday, underscoring as well the need to contain the conflict from further spreading.
"The United States is committed to Israel's security. We're committed to a ceasefire that will bring the hostages home and prevent the conflict from spreading beyond what it already has," Biden said as he sat side-by-side with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in the Oval Office of the White House.
The Biden administration has been trying to prevent a wider regional war that the Iranian attack and a potential Israeli military response would otherwise lead to.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, held phone talks on Monday regarding the tensions between Israel and Iran.
Amir-Abdollahian briefed Wang on Iran's position on the attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, saying that the UN Security Council did not make a necessary response to this attack, and that Iran has the right to self-defense in response to the violation of its sovereignty.
Noting that the current regional situation is very sensitive, Amir-Abdollahian said Iran is willing to exercise restraint and has no intention of further escalating the situation.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China strongly condemns and firmly opposes the attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, regarding it as a serious violation of international law and unacceptable.
China has noted Iran's statement that its action taken was limited and was an act of self-defense in response to the attack against the Iranian consulate in Syria, Wang said.
China appreciates Iran's stress on not targeting regional and neighboring countries as well as its reiteration on continuously pursuing a good-neighborly and friendly policy, he said. ■
