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Iran tells U.N. Security Council Israel struck nuclear facility, urges council to condemn attack
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Summary
A representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran accused Israel of striking a nuclear facility under IAEA safeguards, said civilians and journalists were killed, invoked Article 51 to justify Iran's response, and urged the U.N. Security Council to act.
The Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran told the United Nations Security Council that Israel had carried out a deliberate strike on what Iran described as a peaceful nuclear facility operating under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards and urged the council to condemn the attack.
The representative said the strikes violated the United Nations Charter and international law and warned of risks to civilian safety and to nuclear materials. "This is a serious violation of the United Nations charter and fundamental principles of international law," the representative said, adding that the attack "posed a serious risk of releasing radioactive material."
The remarks outlined casualty figures and damage that the representative attributed to the strikes. The speaker said "so far, 1,480 people have been killed or injured" and that "at least 224 civilians, including women and children, have been killed," and claimed that a single attack on a residential building in Tehran killed "around 20 children." The representative framed those numbers as evidence of what they called "war crimes," saying hospitals, homes and other civilian infrastructure were struck.
The address accused Israel of also targeting media facilities. "Just hours ago, [the] Israeli regime deliberately targeted the office of Iran's news agency during a live broadcast," the representative said, calling the attack "a blatant war crime and a direct assault on press freedom." The speaker said Iran regarded the attacks as part of a broader campaign against civilians and journalists.
The representative invoked the U.N. Charter to describe Iran's response. Citing Article 51, the speaker said Iran "exercised its inherent right to self defense" and described Iran's response as "defensive, targeted, and proportionate," aimed at "deterring and preventing the recurrence of such crimes." The representative insisted Iran did not target civilians and said Iran "does not seek war or escalation." The address also accused the United States of enabling the alleged Israeli strikes and said Washington would "share responsibility for this unlawful act."
The speaker said the strikes interrupted diplomacy: the attack occurred "just as the sixth round of nuclear negotiation was about to resume in Muscat" and, according to the representative, undermined trust ahead of talks. The representative said Iran has called repeatedly for the Security Council to act, thanked members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other partners who condemned the strikes, and said Iran had sent a letter to the U.N. secretary-general and the Security Council repeating an "urgent request" to condemn the attack and hold those responsible accountable.
The address closed by urging the Security Council to act to "stop the genocidal aggressor" and saying Iran would continue to "act within the framework of international law" while defending its territory. The transcript of the speech does not record any immediate decision, vote, or formal Security Council resolution taken in response within the provided remarks.
