Iravani: The international community should demand accountability for violators of international law

According to Ashura News, citing Mehr News Agency, Amir Saeed Iravani, Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, recalling the Israeli and American attacks on Iran and the nuclear facilities of Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, said: The international community must unequivocally condemn these actions and demand accountability for violators of international law.

In a speech at the UN General Assembly on Thursday evening local time, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations thanked Kazakhstan for its initiative in promoting the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, adding: The International Day Against Nuclear Tests was established with the aim of recalling the catastrophic consequences of nuclear tests on human health, the environment and international peace and security; consequences that leave a lasting legacy for humanity and nature for generations to come.

The senior diplomat of the Islamic Republic of Iran added: “While we honor the memory of the victims of past nuclear tests, we must simultaneously take action to protect current and future generations from new forms of nuclear dangers.”

Irvani continued: “Today, the dangers that were previously associated with nuclear tests are being reproduced in another form, through deliberate attacks on nuclear facilities under safeguards. The threats from nuclear tests are not limited to deliberate explosions; the threat or use of force against nuclear facilities also pose equally serious risks.”

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said: “The recent reckless attacks by the Zionist regime and the United States against Iranian nuclear facilities highlight this urgent concern.”

Iran’s permanent representative to the UN added: “These facilities, which operate under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency and for peaceful purposes only and in accordance with Article 4 of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, were deliberately targeted; an act that is a clear violation of international law, including the principles of the UN Charter. Such actions are a direct attack on the foundations of multilateralism; they undermine trust in disarmament and non-proliferation regimes and pose a serious threat to international peace and security.”

Iravani emphasized: “Equally worrying are the Zionist regime’s attacks on Iranian cities that host the International Monitoring System (IMS) stations. These illegal actions endanger the safety and integrity of the IMS facilities, threaten the lives of their technical staff, and target the very foundation of the global verification system.” By undermining the overall objectives of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, these attacks are a serious obstacle to the treaty’s entry into force.

The senior diplomat of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the United Nations emphasized: “Therefore, the international community must unequivocally condemn these actions, demand accountability for violators of international law, and strengthen legal protections for nuclear facilities so that the security of peaceful nuclear facilities becomes an inviolable norm and it becomes clear to the perpetrators that they can never enjoy immunity from such egregious violations.”

Iravani said: “The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty embodies the international community’s firm rejection of nuclear tests and recognition of the catastrophic risks that nuclear explosions pose.” However, condemning nuclear tests while ignoring actions that have similar consequences would be nothing short of hypocrisy and blatant double standards.

Iran’s ambassador to the UN noted that such attacks also target the very foundation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, a treaty that rests on a delicate balance: non-nuclear states pledge never to pursue nuclear weapons in exchange for two fundamental guarantees: the right to develop peaceful nuclear energy without discrimination and the commitment of nuclear-weapon states to pursue disarmament.

By attacking nuclear facilities under safeguards, the perpetrators not only violate the inalienable rights of a sovereign state under Article IV, but also undermine the credibility of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the trust on which it is based, the senior diplomat of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN said. If peaceful nuclear facilities cannot be considered immune from the threat or use of force, what meaning remains for the guarantees promised by the treaty?

Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations stressed: “Protecting the peaceful use of nuclear energy, protecting all nuclear facilities from the threat or use of force, and promoting the total elimination of nuclear weapons are not separate goals; they are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. By renewing our commitment to these principles at today’s meeting, we acknowledge that the painful lessons of the past will never be forgotten and that humanity will remain steadfast on the path to a world free of nuclear weapons.”

“The victims of nuclear tests remind us of the exorbitant costs of indifference,” he said. “Now, in the face of new threats that risk repeating history in a different form, remaining silent would be nothing more than a betrayal of their memory.”

The Iranian ambassador to the UN continued: "Today, we must stand resolutely against all nuclear dangers, whether through tests, threats, or attacks, and strive relentlessly for a world in which nuclear energy serves solely the progress and dignity of humanity, not the path to its destruction."