Reply of the Delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran
to the statement by the Israeli Regime
At the 77th Session of the General Assembly
On “General – Debate”
New York, 22 September 2022
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Mr. President,
I asked for the floor to respond to the unfounded accusations made against my country at this high level and the august gathering by the representative of the Israeli regime, who, as its customary and yet another desperate attempt, misused the UN platform, to make false claims by using fabrications and lies.
The Islamic Republic of Iran categorically rejects all allegations and baseless accusations leveled against it, which are entirely based on false flags and fictitious assumptions designed to conceal the Israeli regime's destabilizing, atrocious, malicious policies, and terrorist activities in the region under the guise of Iran phobia.
Paradoxically, the Israeli regime has falsely accused Iran of being a source of regional insecurity and a threat to the region, while this regime, as a primary source of insecurity in the region, continues its malign and destabilizing activities by flagrantly and systemically violating international law and the UN Charter.
The Israeli regime is notorious for its atrocities and apartheid policies against the people of Palestine. By targeting and killing innocent People, including women and children, in occupied Palestine, the Israeli regime continues to commit flagrant and systematic violations of human rights and all norms of international humanitarian law, especially the core crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.
The Israeli regime also openly supports terrorism in the region and beyond. As stated in the letter of the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN, dated 7 September 2022, addressed to the Security Council and the Secretary-General General (S/2022/679), the Israeli regime's authorities have acknowledged unequivocally the regime's involvement in criminal terrorist acts against Iranian officials, scientists, and civilians, as well as destructive operations against Iran's peaceful nuclear infrastructure inside Iranian territory.
This regime also continues to work closely with terrorist groups designated by Security Council resolutions to further its sinister and political agenda in the region and will go to any length to prevent terrorist groups from being defeated. And yet to cover up its illegitimate and illegal actions and distract the international community’s attention, and as a long-lasting pattern of its ill-intended policy, the Israeli regime blames the Islamic Republic of Iran. This regime itself utilized the weapons of mass deception.
Yet this is not the end of the story. The representative of the Israeli regime has claimed that Iran's peaceful nuclear program, which has been under the comprehensive safeguard of the IAEA, poses a threat to regional and international security, whereas the true threat to international peace and security is the Israeli regime's development, production, and stockpiling of various types of weapons of mass destruction and its actual threats to use them against the regional countries.
This regime is the only one in the Middle East that has not acceded to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and refuses to subject its nuclear facilities to the IAEA's comprehensive safeguards regime. Furthermore, the Israeli regime refuses all international efforts to free the Middle East of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
The Israeli regime has taken advantage of every opportunity to threaten the use of force against other UN Members of the United Nations, and now the representative of this regime abused this high-level meeting, in a flagrant violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, threatening to use of force against my country by its military capabilities which include its nuclear weapons.
Given the long and dark history of crimes and malicious activities in the region, the weapons of mass destruction held by this criminal regime, which has no qualms about publicly threatening other UN Members to use force, are the true source of terror, insecurity in the region, and endanger the international peace and security. Therefore, the international community must strongly condemn the belligerent and threatening statements of the Israeli regime’s representative and compel this terrorist regime to abide by the rule, eliminate all its WMD arsenal under the transparent, verifiable, and irreversible verification regimes, and stop all of its persistent threats along with its disruptive and malign activities in the region.
It is a well-known fact that peace and security in the Middle East will not be achieved until the international community and the United Nations fulfill their responsibility to combat and put an end to the persistent threats posed by this dangerous regime against international peace and security.
Last but not the least, the Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its inherent right to self-defense, under international law and the United Nations Charter, to decisively respond to any threat or wrongful act perpetrated by the Israeli regime.
As a responsible member of the United Nations, the Islamic Republic of Iran is committed, consistent with its rights and obligations under international law, to actively assisting regional nations and governments in their efforts to combat foreign-backed terrorist groups in the region until they are completely eradicated.
Thank you Mr. President