Iran says U.N. ignores Israeli threats to Tehran

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad smiles after signing an agreement of joint cooperation with Turkmenistan's President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov before a farewell ceremony in Tehran June 16, 2007.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran accused the U.N. Security Council of ignoring Israeli threats to attack the Islamic Republic and called on the body, in a letter made public on Monday, to demand that the Jewish state desist.

The letter from Iranian Ambassador Javad Zarif to Security Council President Johan Verbeke of Belgium appeared to be a response to denunciations by Western members of the council of comments by Iran's president forecasting Israel's destruction.

Zarif cited remarks attributed to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz refusing to rule out military action to stop Iran's nuclear program, which the West says aims to create a bomb. Tehran denies that.

"These malicious threats ... constitute matters of extreme gravity that require urgent and resolute response on the part of the United Nations," he said in the letter dated June 11.

"The Security Council should react to these threats by unequivocally condemning them and demanding that (Israel) abandon its policy of flouting international law ... and cease and desist immediately from the threat of use of force against members of the United Nations."

Zarif charged the council with "inaction ... in dealing with such criminal Israeli policies and practices" that he said had emboldened Israel to "persist in its flagrant defiance" of U.N. charter principles.

In a reference to the furor over the comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he also accused unnamed council members of joining Israel "in a failed attempt and tired smokescreen" to distract world attention from Israeli actions.

Ahmadinejad said in a speech on June 3 that the Lebanese and Palestinians had pressed a "countdown button" to bring an end to the "Zionist regime." "By God's will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future," he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed shock and dismay at Ahmadinejad's comments and said Israel was "a full and long-standing member of the United Nations with the same rights and obligations as every other member."

But an attempt by Western countries to push a similar statement through the Security Council was blocked by Muslim members Indonesia and Qatar.

Unlike council resolutions, council statements need to have the agreement of all 15 members of the body.