Iran's UN envoy rejects US accusations, displays photos of war victims at Security Council

Iran's ambassador and chargé d'affaires to the United Nations, Gholamhossein Darzi, responded on Tuesday to remarks by US Ambassador Mike Waltz at the close of a UN Security Council meeting on Iran, displaying photographs of people killed in the recent war and urging members to speak on the basis of facts rather than accusations.

According to Darzi, the US representative offered no valid argument or justification for what he described as Washington's blatant aggression against Iran, and instead repeated what the Iranian envoy called lies and baseless accusations about Iran's peaceful nuclear program. Darzi said Waltz repeated these claims to obscure the truth, evade responsibility and escape accountability. "Let us speak based on facts, not fabricated accusations," Darzi said, adding that the United States and the Israeli government had committed acts of aggression, including repeated military attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities that are under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

Darzi stated that Iran is the victim of the war, not the aggressor, and that the United States and Israel had committed war crimes against the Iranian people. He said residential areas, schools, hospitals, bridges, airports, energy facilities, sports complexes, cultural heritage sites, the railway network and other critical infrastructure were deliberately targeted. The original report referenced the Minab school among the sites covered by the coverage.

Showing images of children and others killed in the attacks, Darzi said no amount of propaganda could change the facts, erase the suffering of the Iranian people or absolve those responsible of their international legal obligations. He said those who ordered, carried out or facilitated the attacks must be held accountable rather than granted impunity, and argued that the roles of aggressor and victim must not be reversed. He added that the United States cannot commit aggression, cause widespread civilian casualties and then use the Security Council to present itself as the victim, and that Washington and Israel would sooner or later be held accountable.

According to Mehr News, the exchange took place at the end of the Security Council session on Iran, where the US envoy had made his own claims about the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities.