TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi strongly condemned Israel’s ongoing military war against Gaza, describing it as both genocide and a direct assault on human civilization.

Speaking Monday evening at the High-Level Meeting of the Ancient Civilizations Forum in New York, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Araghchi outlined Iran’s position on the vital role of ancient cultures in promoting global peace and security.

He said the war on Gaza “is not merely a political dispute, but a civilization-destroying onslaught,” stressing that the systematic destruction of universities, libraries, museums, mosques, and churches in Palestine amounted to war crimes on par with genocide.

“The deliberate targeting of cultural and religious sites—the repositories of Palestine’s identity—is a crime designed to erase an entire nation along with its history and future,” Araghchi declared. He added that mass killings of civilians, systematic starvation, and the leveling of towns were crimes against all the values upheld by ancient civilizations, including compassion, justice, and human dignity.

The Iranian foreign minister said silence in the face of such atrocities was unacceptable: “We cannot remain indifferent to the annihilation of a nation and the civilizational values Palestinians represent. The silence of certain powers over the genocide and the destruction of Palestine’s heritage amounts to complicity.”

The minister warned that the destruction of Gaza’s cultural and historical institutions could have irreversible consequences for global civilization as a whole. “When universities and libraries are reduced to rubble, it is not only the Palestinian nation that suffers; the entire human family loses chapters of its collective memory,” he said.

He pointed out that UNESCO conventions obligate states to protect cultural heritage during conflict and accused Israel of grossly violating those commitments. “The international community cannot remain indifferent when binding obligations are trampled with impunity,” Araghchi said.

He further argued that Israel’s actions were not isolated, but part of a systematic pattern of erasing cultural identity across occupied territories. “The targeting of ancient sites and the looting of artifacts is designed to manufacture historical amnesia,” he said, calling for stronger multilateral frameworks to prevent the trafficking of cultural property out of conflict zones.

Araghchi also urged civil society, academics, and international organizations to document crimes against cultural heritage to ensure accountability in future judicial proceedings. “There must be no impunity for crimes against civilization,” he stressed.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza started on October 7, 2023, after Palestinian resistance fighters carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to its decades-long campaign of death and devastation against the Palestinians in the West Bank.

The Israeli regime’s bloody onslaught on the besieged strip has so far killed more than 65,344 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

Araghchi also linked Israel’s actions in Gaza to broader violations of international law, citing the joint Israeli-U.S. military attacks against Iran in June 2025 as a “flagrant breach of the UN Charter and all accepted norms of international law.” He said those assaults represented a direct attack on the principles of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect, which the UN forum was established to defend.

Calling for urgent international action, Araghchi said: “It is a moral duty to clearly condemn both the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the acts of aggression against my country. This forum must demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid, and an end to the occupation that fuels this endless cycle of violence.”

In his broader remarks, Araghchi highlighted Iran’s commitment to safeguarding cultural heritage, promoting technological tools such as satellite imaging and AI to protect ancient sites, and supporting the global movement to return stolen cultural artifacts to their countries of origin. He noted the return of treasures to Egypt, Greece, Iran, Iraq, and Nigeria as vital steps toward correcting historic injustices.

He also underlined the role of cultural tourism in sustainable development, saying ancient civilizations offered the world opportunities to foster dialogue and mutual understanding.

Closing his speech, Araghchi urged members of the forum to draw on the principles of justice that had sustained ancient civilizations for millennia. “Our legacy must be that we were not indifferent bystanders to genocide,” he said. “Let us act to end the bloodshed in Gaza, preserve our shared heritage, and build a future of peace, dialogue, and cooperation.”

Foreign ministers from Iran, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Armenia, and China attended the meeting.