The atmosphere in the Security Council's formal meeting room at the headquarters was tense on Sunday evening, after the chairing country Guyana called for a crisis meeting at the request of Iran.
The Iranian envoy Amir Saeid Iravani accused the US of having "started a war with absurd pretexts" and of having "decided to destroy diplomacy".
Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon, who was sitting near Iran's UN envoy, thanked the US for the military operation in Iran.
Unprovoked attack
Russia's UN ambassador Vassilij Nebenzja condemned Israel's "unprovoked" attacks on Iran and the US bombings of targets in Iran.
Nebenzja continued by accusing Israel and the US of "playing with humanity's security and well-being".
UN chief Guterres said that civilians must be protected and the parties must return to diplomatic negotiations. He also demanded that Iran immediately allow inspectors from the UN's nuclear energy agency IAEA to inspect the nuclear facilities.
IAEA warning
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said that the UN agency could not assess the extent of the damage to the three facilities attacked by the US, but he warned that non-proliferation agreements on nuclear weapons in the future "may completely fall apart".
This is the third time the Security Council has met at the UN headquarters in New York during the ongoing conflict.
