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Iran on Tuesday condemned �����������’s admission that it killed former Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and told the UN Security Council (UNSC) that its October missile attack on Israel was therefore a "legitimate" response.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz publicly admitted on Monday for the first time that Israel had killed Haniyeh and called for Iran to be targeted "directly".

Haniyeh, who was playing a key role in Hamas's negotiation efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza, was killed in a guesthouse in Tehran on 31 July, reportedly by an explosive device that had been placed by Israeli operatives weeks before.

Until Monday, Israel had never admitted to killing Haniyeh, but Iran and Hamas had both accused it of responsibility.

Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeed Iravani, sent a letter to the UN Security Council saying that Israel "poses the most serious threat to the peace and security of the region and the world".

The letter called Katz’s comments a "shameless admission” of a “heinous crime".

It said that the admission "confirms the legitimacy and legality of Iran’s defensive response on October 1 2024 and Iran’s continued position that the occupying and terrorist entity Israel continues to post the most serious threat to regional and international peace and security".

Iran responded to Haniyeh’s assassination by firing 200 missiles at Israel in October, however Israel said most of the projectiles were intercepted either by its own air defences or by allies' air forces.

The letter to the UNSC also said that Israel was "now desperately trying to justify and legitimise its past and future aggressive acts against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yemen, by levelling baseless accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran".

The letter denounced the UNSC’s "continued silence" stating it did not only "encourage this terrorist entity to commit more brutal crimes but will also undermine the fundamental principles on which the UN was founded".

This comes after Katz earlier this week pushed for Israel to strike Houthi strategic infrastructure saying, "we must capitalise on the opportunity…it would be a strategic mistake of historic proportion not to".

The Houthis, who are targeting Israel-linked commercial vessels in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians have reiterated they will not stop attacks as long as Israel continues its war on Gaza.

Despite multiple reports suggesting that Israel and Hamas are getting closer to agreeing on a ceasefire deal to end the Gaza War, Israel has continued to carry out deadly and indiscriminate strikes on Gaza, killing dozens of people daily, while obstructing aid and targeting hospitals.

�����������’s war on Gaza has killed 45,361 Palestinians since 7 October 2023 and wounded over 107,803 and utterly devastated the Palestinian territory.