PNN – Given the legal situation that has emerged following the recent Zionist aggression against our country, as well as the terrorist regime’s continued crimes in the killing of more than 55,000 Palestinians, the silence of international authorities and institutions will mean the final nails being hammered into the coffin of international law.
After the Zionist regime’s brutal attack on residential and military sites in the country, one of the first reactions from the Islamic Republic of Iran was within the framework of international rules and laws. The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations sent an urgent letter to the Security Council condemning the Zionist regime’s attacks on nuclear facilities, unarmed civilians, and the assassination of senior military officials, requesting an emergency meeting to respond to the Zionist regime’s blatant aggression.
The letter states: In a reckless, illegal and premeditated act, the Zionist regime has carried out a series of coordinated military attacks against the nuclear facilities and civilian infrastructure of the Islamic Republic of Iran. These actions are considered a clear violation of the United Nations Charter and the fundamental principles of international law, and their dangerous consequences severely threaten regional and international peace and security.
Referring to Israel’s attacks on facilities under the supervision and full safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the letter emphasized: Attacking such facilities not only directly threatens the lives of Iranian civilians, but also risks an irreparable radiological disaster in the region. A deliberate attack on safeguards facilities is a clear violation of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran’s legal obligations under the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement.
As mentioned in this letter and as Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi has also stated, “this act of aggression is considered a declaration of war against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Before this, however, the Zionist regime’s aggression meant a clear violation of Iran’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty, which it has openly ignored international custom and its general legal principles. The attack on civilians as well as civilian installations has also completely violated the Geneva Conventions and international peremptory norms (Jus Cogens).
Given the goals of Israel’s aggression, which target military, civilian, and nuclear facilities under safeguards, on the one hand, the Geneva Conventions and humanitarian law have been attacked and violated, as well as the 1980 Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material.
In this regard, even the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who is himself one of the factors increasing tensions in the Iranian nuclear issue, has warned that attacks on nuclear facilities violate the principles of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the Agency’s statute, and that nuclear facilities should not be targeted under any circumstances.
In response to these actions by the Israeli terrorist regime, Iran has a legitimate right, based on Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, to take reciprocal and retaliatory action against the Zionist regime’s aggression.
Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations provides that nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense of Members if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.