Iran's UN envoy warns Israel's 'culture of impunity' threatens peace across Middle East
'Those responsible for grave breaches of international law, war crimes and crimes against humanity must be held to account,' says Amir Saeid Iravani
Iran's UN envoy warned Tuesday that Israel's unchecked violations across the Middle East are fueling a dangerous erosion of international law and called on the UN Security Council to compel accountability for what he described as widespread crimes against civilians.
"The persistent absence of accountability fuels a dangerous culture of impunity," said Amir Saeid Iravani at the Council's open debate on the situation in the Middle East, stressing that "those responsible for grave breaches of international law, war crimes and crimes against humanity must be held to account."
Noting the Israeli violations across the region, Iravani said the Israeli "occupying regime continues to violate the ceasefire through military attacks and severe restrictions on humanitarian access, deepening hunger and civilian suffering" in Gaza, while "illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank continues in clear violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions."
He also blamed Israel for broader regional destabilization, citing "repeated destabilization, an act of aggression in Syrian territory, the ongoing illegal occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights and persistent violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon."
On Gaza, Iravani said any viable solution "must ensure a durable and permanent ceasefire, the full withdrawal of occupying forces and unhindered humanitarian access while fully respecting the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination."
Pointing to the US-Israeli war on Iran, he said that "on 28th February, the United States and Israel launched an unprovoked war of aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran in flagrant violation of international law, including the prohibition on the use of force and the preliminary norm prohibiting aggression," saying "the United States and the Israeli regime must bear full responsibility and must be held accountable."
Iravani described Israel as an "outlaw and terrorist regime" that "remains a persistent and serious threat to national peace and security" and dismissed criticism of Tehran by saying that he "categorically rejects the baseless allegations raised against my country."
He closed by charging certain delegations with attempting "to ignore the root causes of the current situation in the region and deflect blame onto Iran, rather than address the unlawful and destabilizing actions of the United States and the Israeli regime."