Iranian ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeed Iravani, expressed “deep concerns and unequivocal condemnation” of the recent threats of aggression against his country made by Donald Trump and other US officials. He warned against any such act claiming it will have severe consequences for the US.
Iravani expressed his country’s stand in a letter to the UN secretary general and president of the Security Council. The letter was published by IRNA on Tuesday, March 18.
The letter was in response to a direct threat issued by the US president on Monday in a social media post. Accusing Iran of backing recent attacks on US warships in the region by Yemen’s Ansar Allah, Trump had threatened that his country will respond directly against Iran in the event of any retaliation by Yemen.
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social.
In his response, Iravani claimed that such threats were nothing more than “desperate attempts” to “unlawfully justify” the US “aggression and war crimes against Yemen”.
“Such inflammatory rhetoric constitutes a blatant violation of fundamental principles of international law and the United Nations Charter, particularly article 2(4), which prohibits threats or use of force against sovereign states,” Iravani said while demanding immediate action from the UN.
Ansar Allah acts independently in support of Palestine
Iravani rejected US allegations of Iran being responsible for Yemen’s actions in the region. He claimed that Ansar Allah and Yemeni authorities act independently in their support of the Palestinian people and in response to US violations of their sovereignty.
Over 51 Yemeni citizens were killed and several others injured in the US’s attacks on different locations inside the country on Sunday. The US claimed the attacks were in response to Yemen’s operations on its assets in the region and to defend freedom of navigation.
Yemen denied the US’ claims of attacks on any assets other than its warships in the region which, it claims, have tried to break its blockade on Israeli vessels passing through the Red Sea. Yemen has vowed to continue its blockade on all Israeli vessels until it ends its siege of Gaza, allows humanitarian aid to flow in, and ends its repeated aggression against Palestinian people.
Iravani also warned against any aggression against his country claiming “any act of aggression will have severe consequences, for which the US will bear full responsibility.”
Israel’s continued genocide in Gaza
On Tuesday, Iran also condemned the US and its allies’ relentless support for Israel’s continued genocide in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Spokesperson of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Esmail Baghaei said that Israel has been able to repeatedly violate international law because it is backed by the US and its western allies. Iran holds them directly responsible for Israel’s criminal acts against Palestinians, Tehran Times reported.
Violating the ceasefire agreement signed in January, Israel carried out fresh attacks in Gaza on Tuesday killing over 400 Palestinians, many of them women and children.
Baqaei emphasized that if Israel is allowed to get away with its repeated violations and complete disregard of international laws and norms the whole structure of the UN may collapse soon. If that happens it would have tragic consequences for global peace and stability.
He also called on the Arab and Islamic nations in the region to take urgent steps to prevent the killing and genocide of Palestinian people. He recalled that the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) has pledged to persecute the Israeli leadership responsible for the crimes against Palestinians in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and urged them to expedite the process.
Iran also renewed its call for a complete halt of all international supplies of arms and ammunition to Israel.
