US warns Iran of 'severe consequences' if it attacks Israel again

The United States warned Iran on Monday that there will be “severe consequences” if it attacks Israel or U.S. personnel in the region again, while Russia accused Israel and its U.S. ally of stoking “the flames of war” in the Mideast.

The latest escalation in Iran-Israeli military actions was front and center at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council called by Iran after Israel’s airstrikes on the country early Saturday.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council the United States, Israel’s closest ally, doesn’t want any further escalation in Israel-Iran retaliatory airstrikes. But she said if Iran takes further military action, the United States will help secure Israel from its attacks as well as those from its proxies — a reference to Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Thomas-Greenfield called on Iran “to stop its attacks against Israel and reign in its terrorist proxies.” And she urged council members with influence to press Iran “to stop pouring gasoline on the fire of regional conflict, and instead contribute to de-escalation.”

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the United States of provoking “a new spiral of violence in the Middle East” by supporting Israel’s airstrikes and providing Israel with weapons and needed intelligence.

Israel was retaliating for Iran’s Oct. 1 launch of more than 180 missiles at the country.

Nebenzia warned that Israel’s latest airstrikes were destabilizing “an already charged situation in the Middle East, which is already balancing on the brink of war.”

Iran “is showing unprecedented restraint,” and has signaled “that they are ready to refrain from further spiraling confrontation,” he said, but Israel’s aggressive actions appear aimed “at further stoking the flames of war” which is unacceptable.