Iran Lodges Complaint with UN, Threatens Broad Consequences Over Khamenei's Death
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General and members of the UN Security Council following the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in what Iran attributes to attacks by the United States and Israel. He has threatened “profound and far-reaching consequences” for those held responsible.
In the letter sent on Monday, 2 March, Foreign Minister Araghchi emphasised Khamenei’s position and the scale of the attack targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader.
“Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is not merely the highest official authority of the state, but also a revered religious figure honoured by tens of millions of Muslims throughout the region and the world,” Araghchi wrote in the letter, according to Iranian media Press TV.
“An attack of this nature will have profound and far-reaching consequences, for which those responsible shall bear full responsibility,” he stated.
Araghchi underscored the “heinous and criminal” nature of the atrocity “perpetrated against the great nation of Iran.”
He stressed that Israel and the United States have targeted the Islamic Republic in “a series of aggressive, premeditated, and wholly unjustifiable acts against the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the nation.
According to the Iranian official, the aggression directed at the Supreme Leader demonstrates that the allies “deliberately targeted the highest official authority of an independent UN Member State.”
Describing the attack as a “cowardly terrorist act,” Araghchi stated that it was carried out “in blatant violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and constitutes a direct assault on the most fundamental principles of international law, including the prohibition on the use of force, the principle of equality of state sovereignty, and the immunity of heads of state.”
He argued that such action “sets a dangerous precedent that undermines the core norms governing state sovereignty and civilised conduct between nations.”
Heads of state, Araghchi asserted, “are inviolable, must be respected, and are immune, a principle essential to the independent performance of their official duties.”
Therefore, the deliberate attack on Iran’s highest official represents an unprecedented and grave violation of the most fundamental norms that govern international relations,” the Iranian Foreign Minister concluded.