At the UN, Iranian envoy Amir-Saeid Iravani rejected arguments made by the U.S. at the UN Security Council on June 24 claiming that the June 22 U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities were an act of self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Iravani denounced this explanation as a “blatant distortion” of international law and the Charter, in a letter dated yesterday, stating that the attack violated Iran’s sovereignty and the principles governing the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Iran’s nuclear sites are under full IAEA safeguards and have been repeatedly confirmed as peaceful,” the letter said, reported Tasnim.
The document cited General Assembly Resolution 3314 and International Court of Justice rulings—including the 1986 Nicaragua and 2003 Oil Platforms cases—to argue that preemptive force cannot constitute lawful self-defense. Iran also dismissed allegations of an imminent nuclear threat as “unfounded,” pointing to recent IAEA reports and U.S. intelligence assessments that showed no evidence of weapons development.
The Russians are making similar arguments. “There were not even vague signs in the IAEA reports—nor in the reports of Director General Rafael Grossi—that Iran might be developing nuclear weapons,” Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Roman Ustinov said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel, reported TASS. “All the more surprising, then, is the position and rhetoric of Israel and the United States, which attempt to justify their strikes with alleged knowledge of related production in Iran. They claim Tehran has crossed some so-called ‘red lines'—lines entirely invented by Israel—regarding nuclear weapons development.” According to the diplomat, neither the IAEA nor the U.S. intelligence community had any evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program.
Ustinov also pointed out that the sites targeted by the strikes were not secret or clandestine facilities. “These were not hidden installations that the U.S. and Israel claim might be linked to nuclear weapons development,” he said. “The strikes were carried out on well-known facilities—those under IAEA safeguards and control, which have consistently appeared in the agency’s reports. These were the precise facilities targeted.”
Furthermore, “Unfortunately, actions by the US, which, much like Russia, is a signatory to this treaty, coupled with Israel’s, which is not a party to the agreement at all, very seriously undermine the entire non-proliferation regime,” Ustinov said. Replying to a question as to whether, by striking Iran, the U.S. and Israel are basically threatening the entire system of controls over the Iranian nuclear program, thus undermining their own efforts on monitoring these developments, Ustinov said: “Absolutely.”
