Speaking on Sunday at the international conference “International Law Under Attack: Aggression and Defense” in Tehran, Seyed Abbas Araqchi said that everyone witnessed how, within nine days, talk of “unconditional surrender” shifted to calls for an “unconditional ceasefire,” and initial miscalculations about the Iranian nation and state evaporated.
Araqchi stated that the conduct of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as one of the founding members of the United Nations, has always been fully consistent with international law.
He added that Iran’s response to the aggression by Israel and the United States was carried out strictly under Article 51 of the UN Charter—its “inherent right of self-defense.”
He stressed that Iran’s defensive operations were designed in accordance with the principles of necessity, proportionality, and distinction between military and civilian targets.
According to Araqchi, Iran adhered to international humanitarian law even at the height of threats and aggression. Unlike the Israeli regime—which massacres hundreds of civilians at the slightest pretext—none of Iran’s actions targeted residential areas or civilians.
He also noted that Iran’s nuclear program is fundamentally grounded in the rights recognized for Iran under Article 4 of the NPT. The development of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, is an inalienable right of the Iranian nation—a right Iran has never renounced and never will.
Araghchi stressed that Iran for years remained under the most comprehensive verification regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency and fully respected all its technical obligations. Following the 2015 nuclear agreement, the Islamic Republic fully complied with its commitments under the JCPOA and UN Security Council Resolution 2231, as confirmed by 15 consecutive IAEA reports.
The Foreign Minister stated that it was the United States—not Iran—that unilaterally withdrew from the agreement without any justification. Had the US honored its JCPOA commitments, he said, the situation today would be entirely different.
According to Araqchi, the Islamic Republic of Iran has demonstrated that in all crises and conflicts, it acts within the framework of law, while the aggressors have trampled the UN Charter, the non-proliferation regime, principles of fairness, and even peremptory norms of international law in full view of the international community.
