Statement by

Mr. Heidar Ali Balouji

First Counselor

Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

At the First Committee, UNGA 77

On Thematic Discussions: Outer Space

New York, 26 October 2022

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Mr. Chairman,

My delegation associates itself with the NAM statement delivered by Indonesia.

Mr. Chairman,

We reaffirm our principled position that outer space is humanity's common heritage and must be used only for peaceful purposes as well as for the benefit of all countries, regardless of their economic or technological progress.

Given the ongoing related deliberations in different fora, including this Committee, we consider transparency and confidence-building measures as an interim step toward elaborating a legally binding instrument on Preventing Arms Race in Space (PAROS). These measures cannot substitute such a legally binding instrument and are of a purely temporary as well as auxiliary nature, in particular serving as an element for a verification mechanism.  Furthermore, it is necessary to note that TCBMs are among the main elements of a legally binding instrument. This issue was raised in the latest Group of Governmental Experts on PAROS, however, due to the US opposition, the agreement was not reached.

PAROS is also a longstanding agenda, having been one of the four main agendas of the Conference on Disarmament for which a special negotiating committee should have been established to negotiate a legally binding instrument over the past 20 years. However, this has not been the case due to US opposition. In this context, the discussion to prevent space threats by creating norms of responsible behavior is a deviant and directional discussion that will distort the main agenda of the Conference on Disarmament. Therefore, the only effective and practical option is to establish a special negotiating committee at the Conference on Disarmament to conclude a legally binding instrument on PAROS as soon as possible.

Additionally, long-term stability can be established in the PAROS area if outer space is not militarized, which would lead to an arms race. A vivid example, in this case, is the US building a space army and weaponizing space, which is a dangerous undertaking and so should be avoided.

This objective can be met if a legally binding instrument is created. Explaining the norms of responsible and irresponsible behavior in action when we face the militarization of space will not help the long-term sustainability of space security and is likely to exacerbate the conflict. As previously stated, threat reduction through responsible behavior is a completely abstract means, topic and notion for a diverging political character rather than a goal in itself.

We believe transparency and confidence-building between governments are necessary and meaningful in the form of a legally binding instrument.

From another perspective, contrary to the accepted principles governing Outer Space, the United States has imposed illegal sanctions against Iranian Space Agencies despite the fact that they are all civilian space entities in nature. This move by the US is in clear contradiction with the principles of international space law, including the right of free access to outer space and international cooperation in space activities. In our view, despite all of these attempts, the US cannot and will not be able to dominate space. Iran considers the suggestion to undertake political commitment not to conduct destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite missile (ASAT) tests as a discriminatory, insufficient and a major deviation from the right approach to guarantee the exclusively peaceful uses of outer space as well as the long-awaited goal of PAROS.

In the same vein, the HCoC is an exclusive and discriminatory export control regime, that inadmissibly imposes restrictions on many of the goods, equipment, technologies, and know-how that have peaceful applications. 

We insist that the monopoly of a few countries or attempting to restrict the peaceful uses of outer space, transfer of space-related science, expertise, technology and services to developing countries should be rejected. 

I thank you, Mr. Chair.