TEHRAN- The ambassador of Iran to the UN has stated that the use of unilateral coercive measures (UCMs) prevents nations from working together to combat terrorism.

Speaking at a UN counter-terrorism conference in New York, Saeed Iravani emphasized the need for comprehensive counterterrorism strategies that take into account the cultural, political, social, economic, security, and intelligence dimensions.

What follows is the text of his speech:

Twenty years before the 9/11 attacks, we faced widespread terrorism and heinous terrorist acts by the MKO terrorist group that claimed the lives of more than seventeen thousands of innocent people including women and children in the Islamic Republic of Iran. As we are approaching 28 of June, I would like to recall that around twenty years ago on this day, this terrorist group assassinated the Iranian Head of Judiciary together with dozens of high-rank officials including parliamentarians and quite two months after that they assassinated the then-president and the prime minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The scale and scope of the harm that MKO inflicted upon people is immeasurable and, yet, certain countries in the West chose not only to ignore that threat but also to harbor them.

In our view, in the assessment of the terrorism landscape and trends, we should take into account how double standards are conducive to terrorism and how that would create a higher risk of terrorism resurgence. Along the same lines, we reaffirm that a true fight against terrorism also requires efforts that are free of politicization, double standards, discrimination and selectivity.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has manifested its genuine determination and strong commitment to fighting terrorism including through assisting States affected by terrorism in combating and diminishing terrorist groups in the region, in particular DAESH which committed unspeakable terrorist acts. General Qassem Soleimani played a critical role in fighting and eliminating such terrorist group who would have otherwise expanded their scope and scale of terrorism beyond the region. He was at the forefront of the fight against terrorism yet was martyred in a terrorist attack in the Baghdad airport while he was on an official mission in Iraq.

DAESH has been defeated and has lost its territorial dominance, nevertheless, the threat of its resurgence persists. The recruitment of mercenaries by DAESH together with certain conditions such as the situation in Afghanistan and unlawful presence of foreign forces remain among the factors that is regrettably conducive to their resurgence. We need to redouble our efforts to ensure that this terrorist group will not find any degree of freedom of operation.

It goes without saying that counterterrorism requires comprehensive strategies in preventing and combating terrorism with due regard to the cultural political, social, economic, security and intelligence dimensions. In this scourge, we should not lose sight of the Unilateral Coercive Measures, which hinder international cooperation in fighting terrorism. To that end, we emphasize that such internationally wrongful acts which are tantamount to “economic terrorism” must be terminated.