The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Jordan called the session at the UN's top rights body, focused exclusively on Iran's strikes on countries across the Gulf region and their impact on civilians.

The Middle East war erupted on February 28 when the United States and Israel began their attacks on Iran, with Tehran in turn striking targets in Israel and Gulf nations.

The 47-member council was considering a draft resolution that "condemns in the strongest terms the egregious attacks" by Iran, condemns Tehran's actions aimed at closing the Strait of Hormuz and voices "grave concerns at the Iranian attacks on energy infrastructure".

It demands Iran "immediately and unconditionally cease all unprovoked attacks" against the GCC states and Jordan and "provide full, effective and prompt reparation to all victims for the damage and injury caused by its attacks".

- 'Form of terror' -

Bahrain told the council it had been subjected to 26 days of "unprovoked, unjustified aggression", while Jordan insisted: "These attacks must stop".

Kuwait cited attacks on civilian infrastructure, including earlier Wednesday when its international airport was struck, saying "all of this amounts to a form of terror waged against civilians".

Oman, which had mediated talks in Geneva between US and Iranian negotiators two days before Washington and Israel began their attacks on Iran, reaffirmed its commitment to dialogue and diplomacy.

Condemning Iran's strikes on the region, ambassador Idris Abdul Rahman Al Khanjari said: "We also reject the US-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is an illegal war and represents a gross violation of the principles and provision of international law."

Saudi ambassador Abdulmohsen Binkhothaila added that "to target the mediator betrays all efforts aimed at peace".

"Iran cannot deny responsibility here," he said.

The United Arab Emirates said they had intercepted more than 2,000 Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, with its ambassador Jamal Al Musharakh insisting: "We have never allowed the use of our airspace for attacks against Iran."

"This is not a mere military escalation: we are seeing random behaviour that undermines international peace and security," he said.

- 'Historic mistake': Iran -

The attempt to pass a draft resolution provoked a fiery response from Tehran.

Iran's ambassador Ali Bahreini said Israel was "dragging the entire world towards chaos and peril".

And he warned Gulf countries that "those who are today appearing as your friends will cast off their masks tomorrow".

Bahreini said airfields around the Gulf were "refuelling points of the fighter jets that every day drop their bombs on the Iranian people".

"Responsibility for these attacks lies not only with those who carried out those attacks but also with those who facilitated, supported and encouraged them".

"We must unite against the evil plans of our common enemy Israel," he said.

"Do not embolden Israel by targeting Iran... It is a historic mistake."

- Flirting with 'catastrophe' -

The UN rights chief Volker Turk told the debate that strikes around Iran and Israel's nuclear sites were "flirting with unmitigated catastrophe".

The Human Rights Council is ready to hold a second urgent debate on Friday, focused on a deadly strike on an Iranian school.

The debate, requested by Iran, China and Cuba, refers to the airstrike on a school in the southern city of Minab on the first day of the war on February 28 that killed at least 165 people, most of them children.