Iran tells UN strikes on Israel are self-defense

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -Iran's strikes on Israel are self-defense and are "proportionate defensive operations directed exclusively at military objectives and associated infrastructure," Iran's U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told the U.N. Nations Security Council on Monday.

He wrote in a letter that any cooperation by third countries with Israel's strikes on Iran "makes them complicit in the legal responsibility and consequences of this crisis."

Under Article 51 of the founding United Nations Charter, the 15-member Security Council must immediately be informed of any action that states take in self-defense against armed attack.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, editing by Bhargav Acharya)