Iran calls on UN to pressure Israel into honoring ICJ rulings

In a letter sent to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday, Iran’s interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said the UN has a duty to urge all member states to refrain from collaborating with the aggressor regime as such a move could constitute complicity in the most serious crimes.

“Once again, I deem it necessary to underline the crucial role and inevitable responsibility of the United Nations with respect to the ongoing massacre in the occupied Palestinian territories by the Israeli regime,” he added.

“In this context, it is highly expected that your Excellency utilize all means available … to put pressure on the Israeli regime in order to compel it to abide by the binding provisional measure of the International Court of Justice and stop genocide of the Palestinian people.”

In a case brought by South Africa against Israel, the ICJ, the UN’s top court, issued three provisional measures on January 26, March 28 and May 24.

They respectively ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide in Gaza, allow unimpeded access of food aid into the besieged Palestinian territory, and immediately halt its military invasion of the southern city of Rafah.

Also in his letter, Bagheri Kani said the international community should urgently put an end to the ongoing atrocities perpetrated by the usurping entity in the occupied Palestinian territories and protect innocent civilians.

“I wish to reiterate that the international community is legally and morally duty-bound to stop and prevent the genocide of the Palestinian nation. It is imperative to ensure the immediate and unhindered fulfillment of all their humanitarian needs,” he noted.

Under the UN Charter, Bagheri Kani added, all states, specifically those who provide support to Israel, have legal responsibility to prevent genocide by ceasing aid to the genocidal regime.

Israel waged its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out its historic operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 37,124 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 84,712 others in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is deliberately blocking and delaying the flow of food and basic supplies into Gaza and using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.