Iran: Strikes on US bases ‘legitimate self-defense’; Tehran committed to friendly regional ties

Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations has written to the world body, describing the Islamic Republic’s retaliatory strikes against American bases throughout the region as legitimate acts of self-defense permitted under international law.

The mission made the remarks in three separate letters addressed to the UN secretary-general and dated Monday in response to complaints submitted by Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain regarding the retaliatory attacks. 

Addressing Antonio Guterres, Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against Iran has warranted the retaliation. 

The aggression, the envoy noted, was taking place “in violation of the jus cogens (legally compelling) character of ‘prohibition of aggression.’”

According to the letters, the attacks have involved the “cowardly” assassination of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as the “highest official of the state and a number of other senior officials of my country,” along with simultaneous strikes against civilian infrastructure.

The ambassador wrote that the attacks have targeted “civilian objects, including schools, hospitals, sport facilities, residential homes, and public service centers.”

Iravani noted that the attacks had so far resulted in “the martyrdom of more than 1,300 civilians, and destruction of 9,669 civilian objects, including 7,943 residential homes, 1,617 commercial and service centers, 35 hospitals, pharmaceutical and medical centers, nine Red Crescent buildings, and 63 schools.”

The aggressors have also used the territories and facilities of certain third states, including Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait to launch unlawful military attacks, he stated.

In the letters, the official cited the principle of “sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas (use your own property in such a manner as not to injure that of another),” arguing that states were prohibited from allowing their respective territories to be used in ways that harm other states.

The envoy also referred to Article 3(f) of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 (1974), which categorizes “the action of a state in allowing its territory, which it has placed at the disposal of another State, to be used by that state for perpetrating an act of aggression against a third state” as an act of aggression.

He stressed that the Persian Gulf trio’s having permitted their soils to serve as launch pads for American assaults against the Iranian soil bears international legal responsibility, asserting that Iran’s counterstrikes were, therefore, carried out under the right of self-defense.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran in exercising its inherent right under article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and in light of the failure of the United Nations Security Council to discharge its duties and responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations, has undertaken necessary and proportionate defensive operations against the bases and facilities of the aggressors in the region,” the letters state.

He added that the measures “are lawful under international law and have been clearly and repeatedly warned of in advance through various channels and at different levels.”

Message to regional states

However, Iravani stated, the Islamic Republic still seeks to maintain normal relations with regional states.
Tehran seeks for such ties to be based on “mutual respect, the principle of good-neighborliness, and respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.

The counteroffensive against the American interests were, accordingly, “in no way against the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the states hosting those interests, the ambassador concluded.

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