In the name of God, the most Compassionate, the most Merciful

                                                                                                     6  December 2022

Excellency,

I am writing to you in response to the letter dated 5 December 2022  from the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council (S/2022/908), in which the representative of the United Kingdom has once again attempted to establish an illusory link between the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Ukraine and Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015) while reciting its unlawful request to the UN Secretariat to carry out illegal conduct that obviously breaches both the relevant mandate conferred on the Secretariat by resolution 2231 and UN Security Council Presidential Note S/2016/44.

The unfounded claim in the letter is clearly consistent with earlier ones (S/2022/771, S/2022/781, S/2022/782) which aim to further a certain political agenda by willfully propagating technical falsehoods and misleading interpretations of Security Council Resolution 2231.

The Islamic Republic of Iran categorically rejects the false claims and unwarranted allusions made against it in the aforementioned letter. Iran's position is clear and, as evidenced by letters dated 19 and 24 October (S/2022/776 -S/2022/794) addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council, it has stated that the use of conventional weapons, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is totally irrelevant to Security Council Resolution 2231 and its annex B.

Similarly,  the aforementioned letter's claim that "there is a long precedent of visits by the Secretariat, at the request of UN member states, to investigate evidence of potential violations of resolution 2231" lacks any legal foundation under resolution 2231 and the relevant Note by the President of the Security Council (S/2016/44). In this context, Iran has already objected to such illegal requests and warned the Secretariat of violating its mandate, as well as the detrimental consequences of exploiting format 2231 to further the political agendas of certain Member States.

Iran, once again, kindly requests the Secretary-General to prevent any misuse of format 2231 and the Secretariat in connection to the issues related to the conflict in Ukraine.

 I should be grateful if you could have this letter circulated as a document of the Security Council.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

                                                                                                             Amir  Saeid Iravani

                                                                                                                   Ambassador

Permanent Representative    

H.E. Mr. Antonio Guterres

Secretary-General

United Nations, New York

H.E Ms. Ruchira Kamboj 

President of the Security Council

United Nations, New York