TEHRAN - Amir Saeed Iravani, Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the UN, stated on Wednesday that the UN Security Council has to take swift and strong action to help the Palestinian people.

Speaking at a meeting on “The Situation in the Middle East including the Question of Palestine,”, Iran’s ambassador to the UN said “sympathy alone is not enough” for Palestinians.

The full text of his speech follows:

Last year was a deadly year in the occupied Palestinian territory, as the Israeli regime's oppressive, expansionist, and apartheid practices against Palestinians continued unabated. As a result, the Palestinian people, particularly women and children, have suffered severe deprivation and violations of their fundamental rights. Due to inhumane blockades, Gaza has become the world's largest open-air prison.

The Israeli regime's recent incursion into Al-Aqsa Mosque on 3 January violated the Mosque's sanctity and worship rites and was a brazen provocation of Muslim feelings.

This illegality and recklessness have serious consequences that should not be underestimated; thus, if not addressed properly, it can further destabilize an already fragile situation, endangering regional and international peace and security.

For more than 70 years, the Israeli regime has committed these atrocities without being held accountable or facing any consequences. Apartheid is still in effect, and the occupation has not ended.

In the meantime, the viability of establishing a Palestinian State is difficult and even meaningless due to the ongoing Israeli regime’s settlement activities that are blatantly prohibited by international law and pertinent UN resolutions. 

We believe that the conflict in occupied Palestinian territory can only be resolved if the occupation is ended and the Palestinian people's inalienable rights to self-determination are fully recognized, upheld, and protected. This will result in the full restoration of Palestinian sovereignty over the entire Palestinian territory.

But as long as the Security Council remains silent, this is impossible to do. The Council's current position has done nothing except strengthen and encourage the Israeli regime to carry out its brutal occupation and crimes against the Palestinian people.

What threshold must the Israeli regime cross, as the Permanent Representative of Palestine pointed out correctly, for the Security Council to emerge from its hibernation and carry out its duties under the UN Charter?

As we have repeatedly stated, if the international community, particularly the Security Council, remains entirely silent about Israel's regime’s ongoing aggressions, the Israeli regime will be encouraged to commit more atrocities and aggression.

The UN Security Council must act immediately and in a decisive manner to support the Palestinian people. Sympathy alone is not enough.

All war crimes, acts of state terrorism, and persistent violations of human rights committed against the Palestinian people by the Israeli regime must be held accountable and prosecuted. These atrocities are well-documented and irrefutable.

Therefore, the Security Council is obligated to uphold the Charter's mandate for maintaining international peace and security and to hold the Israeli regime accountable for its crimes using all legal means at its disposal.

The Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes the General Assembly's request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a resolution adopted on December 30, 2022, (A/RES/77/247) for an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's ongoing violation of the Palestinian people's rights to self-determination, as well as its prolonged occupation, settlement, and annexation of Palestinian territory. We believe that this action could contribute to the liberation of the entire Palestinian territories.

The Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes it as its duty to protect the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to resist the oppression and violence of the apartheid regime in accordance with their right to self-determination. This will continue to be our steadfast position up until the end of the occupation.

And finally, Mr. President, in keeping with the Israeli regime's standard practice, the regime's representative again veered off the Council's topic of discussion and tried to abuse this chamber by fabricating and lying, falsely accusing Iran of nefarious activities for which the Israeli regime is committing in the region and elsewhere.

Iran strongly denies such absurd claims. These unfounded allegations have one clear objective: to deflect attention from the main issue, namely the atrocities committed by the apartheid regime against the Palestinian people as well as its systematic and deliberate violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the Palestinian-occupied territories.