Middle East crisis live: UK foreign secretary condemns ‘reckless’ Iran attack on Israel as UN chief says region on ‘brink’

Describing it as “a reckless and dangerous thing for Iran to have done”, the UK’s foreign secretary David Cameron said that Tehran’s attack was a “double defeat”, as it had failed to inflict damage on Israel, and that “they’ve revealed to the world that they are the malign influence in the region.”

Regional officials, including Iran’s foreign minister, had previously said Tehran had given notice to neighbouring countries days before its attack, which gave Israel and allies the US, UK and Jordan time to convene a significant defensive response.

Photograph: Ramadan Abed/ReutersHere is another video clip of that tense UN security council meeting, with Israel and Iran’s representatives at the UN – Gilad Erdan and Amir Saeid Iravani – exchanging sharp words about the actions of each other’s nations.

Earlier today the UK foreign secretary urged Israel not to retaliate against Iran, saying the attack had represented a “double defeat” for Tehran, in that it failed to cause damage or casualties, and also exposed to the world what he described as the “malign” influence.

He appeared to concede that Iran had some right to respond to the destruction of its diplomatic building in Damascus, widely thought to have been carried out by Israel, but questioned the scale of Tehran’s response due to its potential to inflict civilian casualties.

Describing it as “a reckless and dangerous thing for Iran to have done”, the UK’s foreign secretary David Cameron said that Tehran’s attack was a “double defeat”, as it had failed to inflict damage on Israel, and that “they’ve revealed to the world that they are the malign influence in the region.”