Iran warns UN Security Council over explicit US military threats

Iran has warned the UN Security Council over explicit US threats against Tehran, while a senior advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution described President Donald Trump as “fearful of defeat.”

Addressing an open debate of the UN Security Council on Monday, Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani said Washington’s conduct has gone beyond Iran alone, saying that the United States continuously threatens sovereign countries with attack.

He described threats issued against Tehran as explicit and ongoing, noting how US President Donald Trump has “openly and repeatedly threatened Iran with the use of force and military intervention.”

The envoy urged action at the international level, stressing that the UN Security Council had to explicitly point out to and condemn these violations that have been committed by the United States.

The Charter of the United Nations is “under deliberate assault,” which is “driven by those who believe power confers exemption from law and that peace should be established through strength and power,” added the ambassador.

“The Charter of the United Nations was never meant to be optional. It is not a menu from which powerful States may choose what suits them and discard what constrains them,” he stressed.

Iravani went on to name examples of “sustained pattern of unlawful actions” by Washington that undermine the Charter, including defying ICJ rulings, imposing blockade on Venezuela and kidnapping its president, “issuing persistent threats, the use of force and military attack against other sovereign states” and “threatening occupation or control of foreign territories.”

“These illegal unilateral actions erode the international rule of law, undermine multilateralism, and gravely endanger international peace and security,” he added.

He further noted that the US president had “explicitly incited unrest within my country, called for the takeover of institutions, and promoted violence under the guise of political pressure.”

Pointing to the “grave” human cost of these “unlawful policies,” the diplomat said that “the United States bears full legal and moral responsibility for the foreseeable consequences of its actions, including civilian deaths, injuries, and the destruction of public and private property.”

The remarks have followed a pattern of repeated menacing comments made by the US president concerning Iran, in which he first threatened the Islamic Republic with fresh military aggression in the wake of foreign-backed riots inside Iran. 

Foreign-backed riotous elements hijacked peaceful protests over economic grievances in early January. 

The elements were confirmed by Iranian intelligence to be in receipt of American and Israeli intelligence, arms, and logistical support, prompting Iranian forces to promptly round up ringleaders and confiscate firearms, including weapons bound for the capital Tehran.

Iranian officials have pledged to address the nation’s economic problems, but vowed, at the same time, to stand firmly in the face of efforts at diverting related protests towards chaos.

Following his initial threats, however, Trump did not stop short of issuing more menacing rhetoric targeting the Islamic Republic.

He has publicly bragged about ordering a significant American military buildup in the West Asia region, a move that has faced uniformly decisive warnings by Iranian authorities about the consequences of any new aggression against Iranian soil.

Leader’s advisor: Trump fearful of defeat

Most recently, Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, issued a statement addressed to the Leader, in which he commented on Trump’s behavior, and described the US president as “greedy for power, money, and material gain,” but, at the same time, “cautious and cowardly.”

“If he sees that a move he has started might lead to defeat, he quickly raises his hands and surrenders.”

As an example, Velayati referred to the United States’ backing down from its incessant strikes against Yemen last year and requesting a ceasefire in the face of the Arab Peninsula nation’s Ansarullah resistance movement. The advisor described Ansarullah as “self-sacrificing Muslims,” who had risen up in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and struck American aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman among numerous other targets in the process.

Velayati praised the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, for his approach in confronting arrogant powers and credited Ayatollah Khamenei with continuing the same path with “precision and firmness.”

The official hailed the Leader for serving, “in practice, as the founder of the [regional] Resistance Front against the Zionist regime and its arrogant backers.”

Concluding his statement, Velayati expressed certainty that under the “correct, rational, and powerful” leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Islamic Republic would successfully sail through the current turbulent global environment.

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