Iran and Israel accused one another Sunday at the United Nations of being the main threat to peace in the Middle East, each calling on the Security Council to impose sanctions on their sworn enemy.

Addressing the emergency meeting, Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani insisted the Islamic republic was exercising its "inherent right to self-defense."

"The Security Council... failed in its duty to maintain international peace and security," Iravani said.

Therefore, Tehran "had no choice" but to respond, he said, adding that his country does "not seek escalation or war," but will respond to any "threat or aggression."

He also lashed out at Israel. "It is time for the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility and address the real threat to international peace and security," Iravani said.

The body "must take urgent and punitive measures to compel this regime to stop a genocide against the people of Gaza."

Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the emergency meeting of the Security Council convened after Tehran's unprecedented attack on Israel overnight: "The mask is off. Iran, the number one global sponsor of terror, has exposed its true face as the destabilizer of the region and the world."

"The mask comes off and the gloves must come on," he said, imploring the body to "take action."

Erdan asked the Security Council to designate the Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic Republic's ideological army, as a terrorist organization and to "impose all possible sanctions on Iran before it's too late."

In particular, he referred to the "snapback" mechanism that allows members of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal -- which the United States exited in 2018 -- to reimpose international sanctions against Tehran.

"We have a collective responsibility as members of the Security Council to ensure that Iran complies with the council's resolutions and ceases its violations of the charter," said Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood.

In the coming days the United States will "explore additional measures to hold Iran accountable."

Late Saturday, Iran launched a direct attack on its arch foe Israel for the first time, firing more than 300 missiles and drones.

Nearly all were intercepted by Israel and others, including the United States, Jordan and Britain.

Iran said its attack came in response to a deadly April 1 air strike on Tehran's consulate building in Syria's capital Damascus that was widely blamed on Israel.

That attack killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards, including two senior generals.

The rising tensions come against the backdrop of Israel's six-month-old war against Hamas in Gaza, which began after the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack in Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,729 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Since the 1979 Iranian revolution Israel has been considered a sworn enemy by the Islamic republic, which calls for Israel's destruction.

Until now, Tehran had refrained from attacking Israel head-on, and the two countries have opted instead to confronting each other through third parties.

On Sunday United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged restraint, telling the emergency meeting that "neither the region nor the world can afford more war."

"Now is the time to defuse and de-escalate," he said.

Guterres also repeated his condemnation of Iran's strikes on Israel, and the attack on Iran's consulate in Damascus.

"It's time to step back from the brink," Guterres said.

Iran urges West to 'appreciate restraint' towards Israel

Tehran on Monday called on Western nations to "appreciate Iran's restraint" towards Israel after it attacked its regional foe in response to a deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

"Instead of making accusations against Iran, (Western) countries should blame themselves and answer to public opinion for the measures they have taken against the... war crimes committed by Israel" in its war against Tehran-backed Hamas in Gaza, said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani.

The spokesman added that Western countries "should appreciate Iran's restraint in recent months".

Western governments have condemned Iran over its unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel, which Tehran insists was an act of "self-defence".

Iran's first direct attack on Israel, which began on Saturday, was in response to a April 1 strike on Tehran's consulate in Damascus which has been widely attributed to Israel.

The Damascus strike levelled the five-storey consular annexe of the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital and killed seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.

Iran said it had informed the United States and gave a 72-hour warning to neighbouring countries ahead of what it called its "limited" attack on Israel.

Kanani said Iran's action was meant to "create a deterrent in the aim to prevent the repetition of the actions of the Zionist regime and to defend (Iranian) interests."

The latest developments took place against the backdrop of the Gaza war, which began with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel which killed 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.

Tehran backs Hamas but has denied any direct involvement in the October 7 attack.

Israel's retaliatory offensive against the Palestinian militant group has killed at least 33,729 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Netanyahu rival says Israel lost 'deterrence' against Iran

Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of leading to a "total loss of Israeli deterrence" in the wake of an unprecedented Iranian attack.

In a scathing criticism posted on X, former premier Lapid also said that under Netanyahu, "Jewish terrorist violence" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank was "out of control".

Netanyahu, who returned to power in late 2022 at the helm of a coalition with far-right parties, has brought "heaps of destruction from Beeri to Kiryat Shmona", Lapid said, calling for early elections.

Beeri, a kibbutz community near the Gaza border, came under attack when Hamas militants stormed the area on October 7, triggering the ongoing war, while the northern town of Kiryat Shmona has suffered during months of cross-border fire between Israeli forces and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Lapid's remarks came two days after Iran -- which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah -- launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for a deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

Israel, the United States and other allies intercepted nearly all launches in the late Saturday aerial attack -- the first direct Iranian military action against arch foe Israel.

Netanyahu's cabinet has weighed Israel's response to the Iranian attack, but the prime minister has not made any public comments.

In the West Bank, where violence has soared since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Israeli settlers torched Palestinian homes and cars over the weekend, killing at least two people, after an Israeli teen was "murdered in a suspected terrorist attack", according to the Israeli military.

Pointing to surging "terrorist" settler attacks, Lapid said: "If we don't move this government, it will bring destruction upon us."

The government, which includes hardline settlers, has prioritised Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967.

Netanyahu has faced in recent months mass protests over the fate of hostages held in Gaza and pressure from a resurgent anti-government movement.

The prime minister's Likud party responded to Lapid in a statement stressing Netanyahu's part in "the global campaign" to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons -- which Tehran denies it is seeking.