u.n. secretary-general guterres "should stop escalating conflict"

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Israel's airstrikes on Iran were "reprehensible and must stop."

"I am greatly surprised by the continued escalation of the conflict in the Middle East," Guterres said in a statement.

"All parties, including Palestinian Gaza and Lebanon, must stop military action and do their utmost to prevent a full-scale regional war," he said.

"We urgently reiterate the return to the path of diplomacy," he said.

On the 1st, Israel launched a large-scale retaliatory strike on Iran, as it had predicted, 25 days after it was attacked by 200 ballistic missiles from Iran.