Amid international concerns over the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on dissent, its foreign minister has warned the UN Human Rights Council over organizing any session to discuss the situation.
In a phone conversation with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres Thursday night, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned of the “negative consequences” of the UNHRC’s “political measure” on cooperation between the Islamic Republic and the West, referring to calls for a special meeting over the deadly clampdown on the current protests across Iran.
Alleging that the Islamic Republic has "deeply exercised restraint" in the ongoing unrest – which has left over 300 protesters dead and about 15,000 detained, he told the UN chief that such a meeting should be held for countries that "promote violence and terror."
“The UN Human Rights Council should hold sessions for governments that are encouraging violence and terror, not for the Islamic Republic of Iran which is a true defender of human rights and has exercised great restraint during recent riots,” he said.
Amir-Abdollahian added that “Contrary to the UN Charter, a few Western countries exploited the peaceful demands in Iran and encouraged violence and offered tutorials on building weapons and Molotov cocktails on media and social networks which led to the killing of police and insecurity in Iran.”
Iranian officials have been accusing “enemies” of fomenting protests, but so far have not presented any evidence.
He also claimed that “technical” negotiations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are at “appropriate” levels, despite remarks by the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog. Rafael Mariano Grossi said Wednesday Iran did not offer anything new during a recent meeting in Vienna to resolve major differences.
