News - Middle East: Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman has condemned Israel’s measure to declare the secretary-general of the United Nations as persona non grata.

Esmaeil Baghaei said on Friday morning the move is aimed at bullying Antonio Guterres and forcing him to remain silent on the regime’s crimes.

The spokesman added that Israel is the same regime whose former ambassador shredded the UN Charter in front of the entire world.

Baghaei noted that Israel’s prime minister also abused the UN General Assembly’s podium to silence the whole world by threatening to cause more death and destruction.

Stressing that any effort to appease a bully only leads to more bullying, the Iranian diplomat urged the Security Council to act on Israel’s crimes before it's too late.

On Wednesday, Israel declared Guterres "persona non grata," accusing him of failing to condemn Iran's retaliatory missile strike against the regime.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric criticized Tel Aviv’s reaction as political and “just one more attack, so to speak, on UN staff that we’ve seen from” Israel.

He said the UN traditionally does not recognize the concept of persona non grata as applying to UN staff.

Speaking at an emergency meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council on Wednesday, Guterres, seemingly under pressure, however, said that he “strongly condemns yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.”

Source: Press TV