Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian's Letter to UN Secretary General

Mr. António Guterres

Secretary-General of the United Nations

Excellency,

I am writing the present letter in order to express the deep concern and sorrow of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the atrocities and crimes being committed by the occupying regime of Israel in the occupied Palestinian land and to request the responsible intervention of Your Excellency and the United Nations to stop the aggression and hold the occupying aggressors accountable.

For more than seven decades now, an age-old nation has been deprived of its right to self-determination and other fundamental human rights, and its territories and ancestral abodes have been occupied. Over the course of these seven decades, the Zionist occupier regime without paying the slightest attention to the laws and norms of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights, with the full benefit of the all-out support of the United States of America and the West which have granted this regime impunity from any accountability and punishment, has been perpetrating  most heinous war crimes, including crimes against humanity and genocide against the oppressed people of Palestine. Continuous usurpation of the lands of the original inhabitants of the region, mass killings, demolition of people's houses and farms, arrest and torture of men and women and even children, humiliation and insult to the dignity of the Palestinian nation and frequent desecration of Islamic holy places including Al-Aqsa Mosque are only a part of the crimes and violation committed by this occupying regime against the Palestinians. The unconditional and unequivocal support of the Western countries, especially the United States of America, to the occupying regime and the shameful disregard of the occupiers' aggression against the Palestinian people, is one of the main factors which have emboldened this regime and encouraged its continued glaring violations and encroachments of the international law. Undoubtedly, due to the extensive financial, military and political support provided to this regime, the said countries are considered accomplices in the crimes perpetrated against the people of Palestine and the region, incurring international responsibility for them and hold them accountable before the international community.

Excellency,

The right to legitimate defense is an inherent right that is clearly recognized by the United Nations Charter and international law. The Palestinian people, as a nation that has been unjustly deprived of the fundamental right to determine its own destiny and is subjected to attacks and violations of human rights and human dignity at any moment, undoubtedly has the right to defend itself and resist occupation and aggression. This is a right that the Palestinian nation does not need to obtain permission or orders from any other party to exercise it, and with the benefit of full independence and maturity, which is the product of eight decades of struggle and enduring the most severe sufferings and bitterness of life under occupation, they have now decided to when, where and how to attain it.

Misleading projections do not change the fact that Al-Aqsa storm operation is a symbol of the spontaneous and natural movement of the Palestinian people to defend their inherent rights and human dignity and an inevitable reaction to the occupiers' constant and ceaseless oppressions against the innocent and wronged people of Palestine. Considering the long and black history of the Zionist regime in committing the most heinous and severe international atrocities against the Palestinians, from the Deir Yassin and Sabra and Shatila massacres to the 2008 and 2014 wars in Gaza, and taking into account the complacent silence and even explicit support by some western countries for the blind bombardments of residential areas in Gaza, which has so far killed hundreds of innocent people, including women and children and also bearing in mind the inhumane actions and the obvious threats of the Zionist authorities in recent days; including cutting off the access of the people of Gaza to "food, water, fuel and electricity"; I deem it necessary to warn about the occurrence of a major humanitarian disaster in occupied Palestine and to mention the responsibility of the United Nations and the Secretary General personally to support the oppressed people of Palestine and to warn the occupying and aggressor Zionist regime against the continuation of violence, killing and destruction in Gaza. One cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that all the evidence, including the positions of this occupying regime officials, indicate their intention to blindly take revenge on the Palestinian defense operations through mass and indiscriminate killing of Palestinians and demolition of infrastructure residential areas, mosques, healthcare and educational facilities in Gaza, and this is nothing but the acknowledgment of the beginning of the genocide of a nation. I don't think any conscience or responsible authority can afford to ignore these obvious signs of committing genocide in the 21st century.

I request your Excellency, by immediately condemning any action contravening international law by the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people, to take the necessary measures as soon as possible to prevent the continuation of gross violations of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights, as well as committing heinous atrocities, especially war crimes and genocide in occupied Palestine and especially the Gaza Strip, and to urge the member states of the United Nations to refrain from any kind of assistance and support to the occupying aggressor which will be tantamount to complicity in the crimes committed and make them internationally accountable.

In conclusion, I emphasize once again that the only solution to this problem is to put an end to the occupation and to recognize the right of the oppressed Palestinian people to self-determination and to realize the establishment of an independent Palestinian state across all Palestinian territories with Al-Quds as its capital.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian

Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran