As US-Israel continued airstrikes on Iran, prompting a sharp retaliation from Tehran on its neighbours hosting US military bases, an Iranian security analyst on Wednesday warned that the Islamic Republic is considering the capture of the coastlines of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The remarks by National security analyst Morteza Simiari came on a day when Gulf Arab states approached the UN Human Rights Council, claiming they face an existential threat from Iranian attacks on their infrastructure, which the UN rights chief said might constitute war crimes.

Speaking to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, Simiari said that Iran’s military is “ready to take action” if the US “makes any mistake” in the region.

He added that seizure of Emirati and Bahraini coasts would “fundamentally alter the regional landscape”. “Entering the coasts of the UAE and Bahrain is on the agenda,” Simiari warned, according to Middle East Eye.

Gulf states warn of an ‘existential threat’

Iran has carried out large-scale retaliation in the form of drone and missile strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries hosting US bases in the nearly month-long war that has shot up oil prices.

On Wednesday, Gulf Arab states approached the UN Human Rights Council, accusing Iran of actions that might constitute war crimes.

“We are seeing an existential threat to international and regional security. This aggressive approach is undermining international law and sovereignty,” ​Kuwait’s ​ambassador Naser Abdullah H. M. Alhayen told the Geneva-based ⁠council.

UAE ambassador Jamal Jama al Musharakh denounced Iran’s “attempt to destabilise ‌the international order through reckless adventures of expansionism.”

Countries at the 47-member council will vote on a motion condemning Iran’s “unprovoked and deliberate” strikes, seeking reparations from Iran and asking the U.N. rights chief to monitor the situation, a document showed.

Iran defends its actions

Defending its actions, Tehran has claimed that more than 1,500 civilians had been killed in the US-Israeli strikes so far. “We fight on behalf of all of you against an enemy that, if ⁠not restrained today, will be ⁠beyond containment tomorrow,” said Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Ali Bahreini, referring to Israel.

Iran, backed by China, will hold ⁠its own emergency ‌session on a fatal strike on a primary school on Friday.

The ​United Nations’ top rights official Volker Turk urged states to ‌end the Iran conflict, describing the situation as extremely dangerous and unpredictable.

“Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure must end. If they are deliberate, such attacks ‌may constitute war ​crimes,” he told the ​council. While Gulf ​states received strong backing in the council on Wednesday, the International Service for Human Rights, an independent NGO, warned against “selective outrage”, calling instead ​for a focus on violations by all perpetrators. Oman, which ⁠had served as a mediator between the United States and Iran before the conflict, was one of the few countries to acknowledge that U.S.-Israeli strikes had preceded Iran’s retaliatory attacks.

“(They ‌were) the ⁠spark that ignited the escalation currently affecting the region and the consequences are threatening states and their vital economic interests and their security ​and stability,” Ambassador Idris Abdul Rahman Al Khanjari told the council.