Iran’s permanent mission to the UN has urged the Security Council to take concrete action to hold Israel to account for the crimes it has committed against the Islamic Republic for over four decades.
In letters to UN chief António Guterres, Security Council president Barbara Woodward, and General Assembly head Philemon Yang, the mission stated that Israel’s anti-Iran actions are exemplified by its sustained campaign of targeted assassinations and terrorist acts.
It cited Israel's targeting of Iranian nuclear scientists, military advisors, diplomatic premises, and representatives as well as its sabotage of Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities.
“These unlawful and criminal acts which were perpetrated both within Iran and outside its borders began with the abduction of four Iranian diplomats in southern Beirut, Lebanon, on July 4, 1982," it said.
The mission was referring to three diplomats and a journalist kidnapped north of Beirut by Lebanese Christian militiamen during Israel's invasion of Lebanon.
“Most recently, this pattern of aggression has come to include the terrorist attack employing explosive devices against Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon on September 17, 2024, the criminal assault on April 1, 2024, where Israel attacked Iranian diplomatic and consular premises in Damascus, the Arab Republic of Syria, and was followed by Israel’s act of aggression on October 26, 2024, against Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in a gross violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations,” the letters read.
The targeting and assassination of Iranian nationals, particularly those engaged in scientific, diplomatic and defense tasks, the mission said, is a gross violation of Iran’s sovereign rights and a serious and flagrant breach of the basic norms and principles of international law and the UN Charter, in particular the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“These murders and terrorist acts are unlawful, targeted assaults that constitute grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions international human rights instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which safeguards the right to life.”
The mission said the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, has yet to take concrete action to hold the Israeli regime accountable for its ongoing pattern of aggression, despite repeated reports by the Iranian government detailing these egregious violations.
Such inaction not only emboldens further violations, but also erodes the credibility and core principles of international law upon which the United Nations was founded, it added.
"Allowing a terrorist regime to openly target and assassinate the citizens of a sovereign state without facing any consequences sets a dangerous precedent that threatens global peace and stability," the mission said.
The letter said the Iranian government's obligations towards its citizens "require it to take all necessary measures to protect its nationals, interests, and sovereignty, including exercising its inherent right to self-defense as ensured in the Charter of the United Nations".
Iran, it said, also requests the Security Council to live up to its responsibility under the UN Charter to take necessary measures to ensure Israel ceases its internationally wrongful acts and respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other UN member states.
Tehran calls on the UN chief to ensure that all violations committed by Israel are thoroughly documented in relevant reports to the General Assembly, Security Council, and Human Rights Council, it added.