Merve Aydogan
17 June 2025•Update: 17 June 2025
HAMILTON, Canada
Iran's UN envoy Amir Saeid Iravani on Monday urged the UN Security Council to immediately condemn Israel's attacks on Iran and hold both the "aggressor and their enablers" accountable.
"Israel has committed a blatant act of aggression against the sovereign and territorial integrity of Iran," Iravani said during a news conference at UN headquarters in New York, describing it as a "serious violation of the UN Charter and fundamental principles of international law."
He condemned the latest Israeli strike on Iran's state television building during a live broadcast, calling it "an appalling attack constituting a blatant war crime and a direct assault on press freedom."
"This aggression came just as the sixth round of nuclear negotiations was about to resume in Muscat yesterday," he noted, adding that Iran had brought "a new proposal aimed at bridging differences" while the US responded "in bad faith."
Denouncing the US for backing Israel militarily and politically, he said: "Without the US weapons, intelligence and political backing, this attack could not have happened. The US will share responsibility for this unlawful act."
"Iran warns that any country assisting Israeli aggression will share legal responsibility for the consequences," he said.
He stressed that Iran "will not hesitate to defend our people, our territory and our sovereignty," as he asserted that unlike Israel, "Iran respects international humanitarian law. We did not target civilians."
Noting that Iran "does not seek war or escalation," the UN envoy affirmed that Tehran's retaliation "focused only on military and economic assets involved in the aggression."
"Iran has not attacked Israel. Iran has not started any war," he added, rejecting what he called a "false" existential threat narrative used to justify Israeli aggression.
He also recalled Israel not being part of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and said "Israel is the only regime in our region with nuclear weapons."
Saying that the Iranian mission sent another letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as well as the Security Council, Iravani urged the Security Council to "act now," demanding that it "condemn this aggression, stop the aggressor, and defend the Charter."
"It's silence and indifference undermine its credibility and the foundation of the UN," he said, adding that his country "will continue to act within the framework of international law."
Regional tensions have escalated since Friday, when Israel launched coordinated airstrikes on multiple sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.
Israeli authorities said that at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds injured in Iranian missile attacks since then.
Iran said that at least 224 people have been killed and over 1,000 others wounded in the Israeli assault.
