US respects human rights as long as Israel is not implicated: Iran’s deputy FM

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has reacted to a recent decision by a US federal judge blocking Washington’s sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, saying the decision has exposed US double standards on human rights.

“This is the same double standard that has held international justice hostage to Washington’s political interests for years,” Gharibabadi said in a Farsi-language post on his X account on Saturday.

The diplomat said that the US resorts to sanctions, threats, and intimidation whenever accountability is demanded from the Israeli regime or its allies for crimes committed against Palestinians in Gaza.

“Human rights, in the American lexicon, are respected only as long as they do not implicate the Israeli regime,” he said.

Gharibabadi said that imposing sanctions on Albanese, an Italian official of the UN who has repeatedly demanded accountability for the Israeli regime and its supporters, has exposed “the true face of US human rights policy,” which he said was “human rights for enemies, impunity for allies.”

He said that Washington has pressured any institution, expert, or mechanism that gets too close to the crimes of the Israeli regime, insisting that international law has become a tool of domination in the hands of the US, as it views the law as valid only as long as it does not touch its allies.

“The independence of UN mandates, the immunity of international experts, and the right of Palestinian victims to truth and justice must not be sacrificed to Washington’s fear of holding the Israeli regime accountable,” said the Iranian deputy FM.

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