Iran FM: Israeli crimes driving region to brink of serious crisis

Araghchi made the comment on Wednesday as he virtually addressed the 57th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, during a general debate on the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.

The following the is full text of the top Iranian diplomat’s speech at the session that is taking place from September 9 to October 11. 

Mr. President,

The atrocities committed by Israeli regime are the horrifying embodiment of a deliberate, systematic campaign of human rights and international humanitarian law violations, war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinian people—a campaign ongoing since the regime's illegitimate inception. The brutal assault on Gaza on October 7, 2023 and its aggressive expansion into the West Bank which led to the slaughter of 42,000 innocent lives, mostly women and children, has escalated these crimes to unprecedented levels and is driving the region to the brink of a serious crisis.

The regime’s recent act of terrorism, marked by the mass targeting of innocent civilians in Lebanon by using communication technologies as weapons of war—prohibited under IHL— further highlights its utter contempt for human life.

The unchecked impunity of Israeli regime threatens to unleash even greater human catastrophes in the occupied territories. Every moment of inaction results in the continued slaughter of innocent Palestinian civilians. The world cannot remain silent; swift and decisive action is not just anticipated—it is a moral imperative.

Tehran expects the Human Rights Council and the High Commissioner to unequivocally condemn these crimes and to mobilize all available resources within international human rights mechanisms to establish a special mechanism to investigate and document the regime's criminal acts in the occupied territories.

The international community must relentlessly pursue the prosecution of all instigators, perpetrators, accomplices, and collaborators in international and national courts.

The killing machine of Israeli regime must be halted in Gaza, Rafah, and throughout West Asia. 

This is a clarion call: The time for decisive action is now. The voices of the innocent demand justice, and history will judge those who choose to act—and those who choose to look away.

I thank you.

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