Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the UN, has lodged a protest with the global body over Israel’s latest threat to assassinate the country’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Al Jazeera reports.

In a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Security Council and the General Assembly, Iravani described the threat by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz as “part of a deliberate and systematic policy of state terrorism” targeting Iranian government officials.

He tied it to the “Israeli regime’s illegal acts of aggression against Iran, including the assassination of the late Iranian leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and other senior political and military officials, carried out with the participation, coordination, and support of the United States”.

Iravani added that the UN Security Council has allowed Israel to act with impunity and warned that Tehran would respond to any hostile actions.

“Unfortunately, the failure of the Security Council to fulfil its responsibilities under the UN Charter has reinforced the climate of impunity and has made the Israeli regime more brazen in normalising state terrorism, which sets a very dangerous precedent and poses a serious threat to international peace and security.”