Iran tells UN that unilateral sanctions amount to economic terrorism

Iran's chargé d'affaires to the United Nations, Gholamhossein Darzi, told a UN General Assembly meeting that unilateral sanctions amount to economic terrorism and that blockades imposed by armed force are acts of aggression under international law. The meeting addressed the need to end US economic, commercial and financial sanctions against Cuba. Darzi noted that it was the 34th time the assembly has declared its opposition to unilateral coercive measures imposed by a government that, in his words, considers itself above international law.

Darzi said unilateral sanctions, including those states impose independently, are rooted in unilateralism and coercion and therefore endanger multilateralism, destabilize international relations and undermine the UN Charter and international law. He said such measures, as a tool for collective punishment of targeted nations, violate fundamental human rights, obstruct peace, weaken the right to development and block a just, peaceful and equitable international order. He described more than six decades of US sanctions and blockade against Cuba as a clear example of coercive pressure against a sovereign state, imposing widespread suffering on its people and hindering development. He argued that intensifying these measures under the pretext of promoting democracy reveals a contradiction between claimed goals and humanitarian consequences, and said no government has the right to dictate the political future of an independent nation.

Darzi called for the immediate end of the blockade, full compensation to the Cuban people for damages, and accountability for those involved in perpetuating the policies. He said Iran, which has itself faced aggression and the consequences of US economic pressure and blockades, reaffirms its opposition to any sanctions against independent and sovereign states, including Cuba. He said such sanctions harm ordinary people, especially women, children and the elderly, and undermine health, security and welfare. Invoking human rights, he said, cannot justify measures that impose suffering on innocent people, describing this as hypocrisy and a weaponization of human rights.

Darzi referred to a US presidential promise of help to the Iranian people, saying that days later, on his orders, US forces bombed an elementary school in Minab, killing 168 children aged 7 to 12. He urged the General Assembly to compel the United States to implement dozens of resolutions adopted with overwhelming international support that reject the Cuban blockade. He said the legal consequences of unilateral coercive measures for the international legal order must not be ignored, citing Articles 1 and 2 of the UN Charter on sovereign equality, international cooperation and friendly relations, as well as the principle of non-intervention under Article 2(7).

Darzi said sanctions are a form of economic terrorism, while blockades enforced by armed force constitute acts of aggression under international law. Despite differences in form and severity, he said, these measures share a feature of undermining state sovereignty, causing human suffering and violating international law, making them illegal and illegitimate. He reaffirmed Iran's solidarity with the government and people of Cuba and called on the assembly to intensify efforts to end such measures immediately. According to Mehr News, Darzi concluded that the time has come to end these illegal and inhumane measures, describing their continuation as a failure of international responsibility and a manifestation of moral bankruptcy.