Addressing the 52nd session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Araghchi said Iran had remained committed to international law, the United Nations Charter, and diplomacy, while the United States had pursued a path of aggression, threats, assassinations, and economic warfare.
“Over the past two years, we continued to pursue diplomacy. The United States chose the opposite path: aggression, threats, assassination and economic warfare, with blatant disregard for international law and the United Nations Charter,” he said.
Araghchi said around 5,000 people, including hundreds of women and children, had been killed in the U.S.-Israeli military aggression against Iran.
He also said Washington and the Israeli regime have committed gross violations of international law through the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and other senior political and military officials.
The foreign minister cited the killing of more than 160 students and teachers in Minab, the use of cluster bombs in an attack on a sports stadium in Lamerd, the bombing of a desalination facility on Qeshm Island, and an attack on a wedding ceremony in Kouhestak, Sirik, as documented examples of U.S.-Israeli war crimes against Iran.
Araghchi said the United States and the Israeli regime could not conceal these crimes by distorting the truth or reversing the roles of victim and aggressor.
He thanked OIC member states that had expressed solidarity with the Iranian people during the difficult period and called on the organization as a whole to take a firm stand against attacks on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one of its founding members.
“Iran will defend its people, sovereignty and legitimate interests. But there is no contradiction between defending our rights and pursuing peace,” Araghchi said.
He added that Iran understood the damage caused by war and valued peace precisely for that reason.
Mojtaba Darabi - Hossein Vaez
