TEHRAN- Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has accused Western countries of using the UN Human Rights Council to exert pressure against the Islamic Republic.

He made the remarks on Sunday during a meeting with members of a special committee tasked with investigating 2022 foreign-backed riots across Iran. 

The special committee has been formed upon a decree by President Ebrahim Raisi.

Amir Abdollahian hailed President Ebrahim Raisi's initiative to form the committee, saying it "demonstrates the Islamic Republic's seriousness about protecting and promoting human rights." He also condemned Israel's ongoing "genocide" in Gaza and the gross violation of Palestinians' rights over the past eight decades, which have been supported by the United States and Western countries.

The Iranian foreign minister said that the West's anti-Iran human rights claims are "legally and morally invalid" and called for an end to the "instrumental use" of the UNHRC by certain Western countries. He emphasized that the mechanisms imposed on Iran by human rights institutions "under the influence and pressure" of a few Western states have no legal justification or legitimacy.

Chairman of the committee Hossein Mozaffar slammed the "dual approach" of Western countries to human rights, saying they use it as a tool to exert political pressure against independent nations while supporting Israel's genocide against Palestinians. He also explained the measures taken by the committee to investigate various aspects of the country’s 2022 riots. 

Mozaffar described Iran's approach to human rights as "genuine and true" and emphasized that the country strives to promote human rights and the dignity of its citizens. 

In September 2022, foreign-backed riots broke out in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini. 

Rioters went on a rampage, brutally attacking security officers and causing massive damage to public property. 

Amini fainted at a police station in the capital Tehran and was pronounced dead three days later at the hospital. An official report by Iran's Legal Medicine Organization concluded that Amini's death was caused by illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs. 

Iran's intelligence community has accused several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, of using their spy and propaganda apparatuses to provoke unrest in the country.