Iran warns UN of “far-reaching consequences” after strike on Supreme Leader
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has formally addressed the United Nations following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in joint US-Israeli strikes, warning of “deep and far-reaching consequences” for those responsible.
In a letter sent on Monday to the UN Secretary-General and members of the Security Council, Araghchi highlighted the stature of the Leader and the gravity of the attack that targeted Ayatollah Khamenei on Saturday, News.Az reports, citing Iranian media.
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“Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is not only the highest official authority of the country, but also a religious figure respected by tens of millions of Muslims across the region and the world,” Araghchi wrote.
“Such an attack will have deep and far-reaching consequences, for which full responsibility rests exclusively with the perpetrators,” he added.
The foreign minister described the strike as “horrific and criminal,” asserting that Israel and the US had targeted Iran in “a new series of aggressive, premeditated, and wholly unjustified acts against the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the nation.
According to Araghchi, the attack deliberately targeted “the highest official authority of an independent member state of the United Nations.”
He warned that inaction would have lasting repercussions. “Failure to respond decisively to such conduct will not only embolden its perpetrators, but will also inflict lasting and irreparable damage for decades to come upon the foundations of the international legal order.”
Calling the strike a “cowardly terrorist act,” Araghchi said it was carried out “in flagrant violation of Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations” and “constitutes a direct assault on the most fundamental principles of international law, including the prohibition of the use of force, the principle of the sovereign equality of states, and the inviolability and immunity of heads of state.”
He argued that the act “establishes a dangerous precedent that strikes at the core norms governing state sovereignty and civilized conduct among nations.”
“Heads of state are inviolable, respected, and immune, a principle essential for the independent discharge of their official duties,” Araghchi stressed, adding that “intentional targeting of Iran's highest official authority constitutes a grave and unprecedented violation of the most fundamental norms governing relations among states.”
He emphasised that the attack “in no way negates the inherent and legitimate right of the Islamic Republic of Iran to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and people in full conformity with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.”
Araghchi also said the act had been committed “in blatant disregard of binding principles of international law and customary international law, including those enshrined in the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons.”
He stated that the incident “engages the international responsibility of the relevant offending states and also entails the individual criminal responsibility of the President of the United States, the so-called prime minister of the Israeli regime, and all persons involved in the planning, ordering, authorising, perpetrating, or otherwise aiding and abetting this criminal act.”
By Emil Kaziyev
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