TEHRAN – Iran has condemned the United Nations for releasing baseless and biased information as facts, while it continues to turn a blind eye to the devastating situation of women and children in the besieged Gaza Strip.

A so-called fact-finding mission established by the UN Human Rights Council has concluded that Iran committed “crimes against humanity” when responding to violent riots that led to the demise of over 200 people, including over 70 security personnel in the fall of 2022. The mission was established by Germany, the U.S., and Britain which have been backing Israel’s genocidal war against Gazans in the past months. 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman said on Saturday that the report is manipulating and distorting facts to fulfill the political goals of Western states.  “The Islamic Republic of Iran considers this report, which was designed by the Zionist regime, the United States, and some Western countries, as a clear example of the misuse of noble human rights concepts and values for advancing selfish political purposes and deems it devoid of any legitimacy or legal effect,” Nasser Kanaani stated. 

The evidence the FFM has based its reports on seems to have been provided by anti-Iran figures and organizations outside the country who claim that they have spoken to “unidentified victims” inside Iran. It’s important to note that these individuals and entities have been backing Western sanctions against the Iranian people for the past years, while repeatedly calling on Western nations to launch heavy attacks on Iranian soil. 

“Countries that violate the rights of other nations and are complicit in all the crimes of the Zionist regime, especially in the massacre of unarmed civilians, particularly women and children, cannot sit in judgment or claim to be judges of the human rights situation in another country; rather, they should be accountable for their own human rights violations,” Kanaani added, referring to Western states’ untrammeled backing of Israel’s deadly campaign in Gaza which has so far killed over 30,000 civilians and forced the rest of the 2.3 million displaced population of Gaza to grapple with famine.  

The spokesman also condemned Canada for sanctioning the head of Tehran’s Metro system as well as a female member of the Iranian parliament. “Canada's actions are also taken with political and propaganda motives and are part of this country's selective approach towards human rights issues in Iran,” Kanaani stressed. 

He further added that if Canadian authorities are truly concerned about the status of women's rights worldwide, then they should break their deadly silence on the genocide and ruthless massacre of over 30,000 Palestinian citizens, more than 70% of whom are women and children.

“They should be accountable and take steps to halt the biggest human tragedy in the world in Gaza by cutting their support for the criminal Zionist regime.”