SAEDNEWS: The Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs said that the aggression against Iran is a historic test for the United Nations Charter.
Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi has stressed that the aggression against Iran is a historic test for the United Nations Charter, and said that the three European countries lack legal status.
Gharibabadi made the remarks at the high-level meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday.
He said that the three European countries lack legal standing, and since they have not fulfilled their key obligations under the JCPOA and supported the aggressor in the recent aggression, any attempt to activate the snapback mechanism, especially on an agreement that has not been implemented for 7 years, is considered abusive and illegal and must be rejected.
The full text of statement by Deputy Foreign Minister Gharibabadi is as follows:
Statement by H.E. Dr. Kazem Gharibabadi
Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the United Nations Security Council Open Debate Entitled:
“Promoting international peace and security through multilateralism and peaceful settlement of disputes”
(New York, 22 July 2025)
In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
Mr. President,
Distinguished Delegates,
At the outset, I wish to express my appreciation to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, in his capacity as President of the Security Council, for convening this important meeting. In the current delicate global context, the subject under discussion assumes a significance greater than ever before. Regrettably, the international community is increasingly confronted with the rise of unilateralism, the instrumentalization of sanctions, the flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter, and a growing disregard for the rule of international law.
Mr. President,
In Surah Al-Ma’idah, verse 32, the Holy Qur’an says, and I QUOTE:—“We decreed to the Children of Israel that if anyone kills a person—unless in retribution for murder or spreading corruption in the land—it is as if he kills all mankind, while if any saves a life it is as if he saves the lives of all mankind.”—UNQUOTE.
Since the establishment of the United Nations and throughout the eight decades of the Security Council’s operations, more than three hundred wars and armed conflicts have transpired, resulting in tens of millions of casualties and injuries. Dozens of legitimate governments have been overthrown as a consequence of foreign interventions—primarily by the United States. In its capacity as a permanent member of the Council, the U.S. has vetoed more than eighty draft resolutions of the Security Council.
The Israeli regime—which has gone so far as to weaponize even food and water against innocent civilians—has, over the past eight decades, carried out more than 3,000 terrorist operations, displaced over seven million Palestinians, martyred and wounded hundreds of thousands, and imprisoned more than one million Palestinians. This is the very same regime that has launched military aggressions against its neighbors, remains a party to none of the international instruments on disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and maintains hundreds of nuclear warheads in its arsenal. And you are well aware of the catastrophic consequences that the possession of nuclear weapons by such a criminal regime entails for international peace and security.
During this very same period, and notwithstanding the United States’ unconditional support for this regime and its exercise of the veto against more than fifty-five draft resolutions submitted to the Security Council in response to the regime’s atrocities, over five hundred and fifty resolutions have been adopted against it by the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council, and the Human Rights Council. Yet none has been implemented—due to the political shielding extended by certain States that purport to champion human rights and the cause of international peace and security.
Mr. President,
With such a heinous record of crime and aggression, in the early hours of 13 June 2025, the Zionist regime—under the command of a war criminal against whom an arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court—launched an act of aggression, in flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the fundamental principles of international law, initiating armed attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The United States, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, subsequently and in full complicity with the aggressor regime, conducted a series of strikes against three of Iran’s safeguarded, peaceful nuclear installations under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
In a statement steeped in deceit, the representative of the regime, addressing this Council on 20 June, claimed that the military aggression against Iran had been carried out in full conformity with international law, in adherence to the principles of distinction and proportionality, and that only military targets had been struck.
I hereby inform the Security Council that the military aggression and campaign of familial assassinations carried out by the regime in question have resulted in the martyrdom of 1,100 individuals, including 132 women, 45 children, and 26 members of medical and healthcare personnel; the injury of 5,750 others; the destruction of more than 8,200 residential units; 17 hospitals and healthcare facilities; 11 ambulances; and various other civilian infrastructures within the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This criminal regime targeted Evin Prison in Tehran, martyring over 70 innocent individuals, including family members of detainees. In another act of aggression, in an attempt to assassinate a university professor, the regime martyred 15 members of his family. In yet another armed assault, the very same regime struck a 14-story residential building, martyring 60 people, among them 20 children.
Mr. President,
In a letter dated 27 June addressed to the President of the Security Council, the representative of the United States, in an audacious attempt to justify its aggression against Iran’s safeguarded, peaceful nuclear facilities, shamelessly claimed that the strikes had been conducted within the framework of Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, allegedly to neutralize the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program to the Israeli regime and international peace and security. Allow me to address these populist and deceitful assertions directly:
First, the Islamic Republic of Iran has not, over the course of recent centuries, initiated armed aggression against any State. We have not threatened the United States with military attack. We maintain no military bases in proximity to the United States. In stark contrast, the United States possesses over 5,000 nuclear warheads—an inhumane weapon it has, in fact, employed against innocent civilians in Japan. It operates more than 700 military bases across over 130 countries, with several hundred thousand deployed forces. It has established multiple military installations in the Persian Gulf region and around the borders of Iran. Thus, who is truly the threat to international peace and security—Iran, or the United States?
Second, Iran’s nuclear program has always been exclusively peaceful in nature and has remained subject to the most rigorous oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency. For over three decades, the Zionist regime has propagated the claim that Iran seeks to develop nuclear weapons, thereby deceiving certain countries and manipulating public opinion. But where, indeed, is this alleged nuclear bomb? Is it not patently absurd that a regime which itself possesses every category of weapon of mass destruction, is party to none of the relevant international instruments, and whose eight-decade record is replete with aggression, atrocity, and barbarism, now levels unfounded accusations against a State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons?!
Third, the invocation of the right of self-defense under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations is legally valid only where an armed attack has occurred. In the absence of such an attack, any resort to force constitutes an act of aggression. Neither the United States nor the Zionist regime had been subjected to armed attack by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Distinguished Delegates,
While the majority of nations condemned the aggression perpetrated by the Zionist regime and the United States against my country, it is deeply regrettable that three European States, the Security Council, the Board of Governors, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and its Director General, adopted a partisan stance and failed to fulfill their respective responsibilities. One must take heed of the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran was subjected to aggression by two nuclear-armed regimes, yet the United States and its allies obstructed the issuance of any resolution in both the Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors.
The Chancellor of Germany described the Israeli regime’s aggression as QUOTE—“the dirty job” on their behalf. The French Minister of Defense openly admitted to military participation in support of the regime. The British Prime Minister, in politically motivated and baseless remarks, sought to legitimize the attacks by portraying Iran’s peaceful nuclear program as a threat. The IAEA Director General, rather than condemning these assaults, still remains preoccupied with seeking inspections of the targeted facilities—ostensibly to assess the extent of the damage inflicted upon Iran’s nuclear installations through the attacks.
Such silence, such complicity in aggression and deliberate inaction have all gravely imperiled the rule of law at the international level. Is this the multilateralism and maintenance of international peace and security that this Council claims to uphold? Is this the justice that the Charter promised to humanity? If the Security Council is incapacitated in the performance of its duties, then what institution remains to safeguard international peace and security?
An attack on safeguarded nuclear facilities constitutes a grave crime. What message does the failure of the Board of Governors and the Security Council to issue a resolution of condemnation—and the refusal of the Director General of the IAEA and certain permanent members of the Security Council to denounce the attacks—send to Member States of the Agency? Why have these States and institutions remained silent in the face of the Zionist regime’s refusal to adhere to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and its continued development of a nuclear weapons program?
Does this silence not convey to countries such as Iran the troubling message that, should they remain outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty, they would not only bear no obligations, but would in fact be rewarded—and enjoy complete impunity?
Under international law, the commission of an internationally wrongful act entails international responsibility, and the responsible party is under an obligation to make full reparation and to offer assurances and guarantees of non-repetition.
Alongside the legitimate and resolute defense of its people and territory, the Islamic Republic of Iran will pursue all of its rights to the realization of justice through diplomatic, legal, and judicial avenues available under international law, including recourse to international courts and tribunals.
States are prohibited from recognizing situations resulting from violations of peremptory norms of international law; failure to observe this prohibition gives rise to their international responsibility.
The acts of aggression by the Israeli regime and the United States against Iran constitute a violation of the jus cogens norm prohibiting aggression. Third States are under an obligation not to recognize such acts as lawful, nor to extend any assistance or support for the maintenance of such an unlawful situation.
Mr. President,
A nuclear-armed State Party to the NPT, together with a nuclear-armed regime outside the framework of the NPT, has launched a military attack against the nuclear facilities of a State Party to the NPT—facilities that were fully subject to the safeguards regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Now, three European States—two of which are permanent members of the UN Security Council and have themselves violated the provisions of this very Council’s Resolution 2231—have openly declared their intention to reinstate Security Council sanctions that were initially imposed two decades ago in connection with the very same facilities that are claimed to have been destroyed, and which were subsequently terminated pursuant to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (or JCPOA).
Such an extraordinary level of double standards and disregard for the principles and purposes of the United Nations Security Council—on the part of its own members—is truly inconceivable.
The three European States lack legal standing; and, given their failure to fulfill key obligations under the JCPOA—as well as their support for the aggressor during the recent acts of aggression—any attempt to trigger the snapback mechanism in relation to an agreement that has not been implemented for seven years constitutes a clear abuse of process and is legally invalid. Such an attempt must be unequivocally rejected.
Mr. President,
We firmly believe that peace is not achieved through bombs and coercion, but through respect for rights, justice, and diplomacy. The normalization of aggression must be unequivocally rejected. The Security Council must not be reduced to a tool at the service of the interests of particular powers; rather, it must serve as the guardian of justice, peace, and security for all nations—irrespective of their size, power, or political orientation.
Regrettably, it must be stated with the utmost clarity that the Security Council has either been unable or unwilling to respond appropriately and resolutely to blatant acts of aggression against the national sovereignty of certain States, military occupations, genocide, unlawful economic blockades, and the sponsorship of State terrorism. The list of these failures is long and deeply troubling. History shall be the judge of whether the Security Council has faithfully discharged its solemn responsibilities toward the world’s nations. The window for reform, reconsideration, and a return to the foundational principles of the United Nations Charter remains open—but that window will not remain open indefinitely.
Mr. President,
Distinguished Delegates,
Iran is a peace-loving nation—but let there be no miscalculation. We stand united and resolute in the face of aggression and will exact a heavy toll upon any aggressor. The recent acts of aggression occurred while we were engaged in nuclear negotiations with the United States—an undeniable indication that the U.S. was not negotiating in good faith and that the nuclear issue serves merely as a pretext.
The enemies of Iran have set their sights on the independence and national unity of our country. Yet, our powerful armed forces and united people have utterly dashed their hopes. Iran stands proud and steadfast. We did not seek war—but we shall defend our people and homeland with the ferocity of a lion. The aggressors must know that their conspiracies shall fail—and it is Iran that shall endure.
Thank you for your attention.
