Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon walked out of the General Assembly plenum in order to protest a speech by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday. Footage shows Danon standing up and slowly leaving the room when Rouhani starts speaking.
"Israel will not respect the world’s number one exporter of terrorism," he said regarding the walk-out.
The diplomat claimed that the Iranian president "takes advantage of the UN stage to distract and blind the international community" from Tehran's "aggression".
"Rouhani takes advantage of the UN stage to distract and blind the international community from his regime's aggression. World leaders need to issue a clear ultimatum to Rouhani: dismantle the nuclear program or we will bring more sanctions to bring the collapse of the regime".
Last week, the US introduced new sanctions against Iran, claiming that Tehran is behind the recent attacks on Saudi oil facilities. Iran has vehemently denied the allegations, stressing that the Yemen-based Houthi militants claimed responsibility for the incident.
Israel has long been a foe of the Islamic Republic, which refuses to recognise its statehood. In July of 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu boasted of being instrumental in convincing Washington to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Both Iran and Israel have also accused each other of sponsoring terrorists and have even promised to destroy one another in the event of war.