The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations has regretted the UN Security Council’s inaction to condemn Israeli attacks on its consulate building on Syrian soil, suggesting its retaliatory course could have been avoided by the international community.
On April 1, a yet-to-confirm Israeli airstrike damaged the Iranian embassy compound in Syrian capital Damascus where seven members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and six others were killed, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in the al-Quds force, his deputy and five military advisers. International law experts said the attacks violated international law and sovereignty.
“Had the UN Security Council condemned the Zionist regime’s reprehensible act of aggression on our diplomatic premises in Damascus and subsequently brought to justice its perpetrators, the imperative for Iran to punish this rogue regime might have been obviated,” the mission said on its X account, formerly Twitter.
Earlier Iranian supreme leader told the public that Israel will be punished for the attack.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in a phone conversation with United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on April 11, vowed for an "appropriate response" if Iran directly attacked Israel territory.
In a phone conversation with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on April 11, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stressed that Iran's foreign policy “had always been based on staying away from tension”.
But he said legitimate self-defense was a necessity when Israel, in breach of international law and relevant Vienna conventions, fully violated the immunity of diplomatic premises and personnel, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Further, in a separate call with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on the same day, Amir-Abdollahian said the silence of the US and Britain would encourage Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue and expand its warmongering in the region.
Meanwhile, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov called on all countries in the Middle East region to show restraint in the wake of the deadly Israeli strike carried out on the Iranian consulate office in Syria so as to avoid a full-scale destabilization of the situation, TASS News Agency reported. Germany and Britain also made similar appeals.
Arhama Siddiqa, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan, told China Daily that Iran's statement “serves as a poignant critique of the UN's recurring inability to effectively address provocations that fuel conflict and violence”.
She said it shed light on the” persistent shortcomings within the UNSC”, particularly regarding the “selective use of veto power”, which often serves the narrow interests of certain member states rather than the broader goal of maintaining peace and security.
By highlighting these flaws, Iran underscores the urgent need for structural reforms within the UN system to ensure greater accountability and transparency, she said.
“Furthermore, Iran's statement implicitly conveys its stance that it cannot be held accountable for any ensuing repercussions, as it has been consistently provoked,” said Siddiqa.
She said the joint declaration issued by Russia, Germany, and Britain “underscores the gravity of the situation in Gaza and the broader Middle East region”.
“It emphasizes the importance of preventing the escalation of hostilities to avoid further destabilization and potential spillover effects that could engulf not only neighboring countries, but also all major powers present in the region and have thus far-reaching consequences for regional security,” said Siddiqa.
“Also important to note is how the ongoing crisis in the Red Sea region serves as a stark reminder of the interconnectedness of conflicts and their impact on the global economy. The disruption of trade routes and economic activity in the region underscores the need for concerted international efforts to address root causes and mitigate tensions,” she added.
Iran, together with the international community and notably a growing number of Western countries, had been calling for a cease-fire amid the bloodiest fighting between Israelis and Palestinians as death tolls have now swelled to more than 33,000 Palestinians, as well as about 1,200 Israelis, after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7 last year.
Contact the writer at jan@chinadailyapac.com
