| Back |
|
|
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
|
|
Your Excellency, Mr. Kofi Annan,
|
|
Upon instructions from my Government, I have the honor to enclose herewith
the text of a note verbal dated March 13, 2006 from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic addressed to the Embassy of
Switzerland in Tehran (United States Interest Section).
|
|
In the past several months, various senior officials of the United States
have used false pretexts to make public and thinly- veiled threats of
resort to force against the Islamic Republic of Iran in total contempt of
international law and the fundamental principles of the Charter of the
United Nations.
|
|
Statements delivered at the AIPAC meeting in Washington on March 5-7, 2006
by the US Vice-President and Permanent Representative to the United
Nations threaten Iran with `tangible and painful consequences' and the
`use of all tools at our disposal' to make it abandon its nuclear
activities.
|
|
Rest assured that although we do not rely on the Security Council as the
only tool in our toolbox to address this problem and are already beefing
up our defensive measures, the statements and publications are simply the
latest and more vulgar in US threats to resort to unlawful, unacceptable
and dangerous use of force (against Iran).
|
|
The statements, furthermore, show the US' contempt for the UN Security
Council and other multilateral mechanisms, and its intention to abuse the
very same mechanisms are self-evident.
|
|
Regrettably, such dangerous words go beyond callous statements before
single-issue constituencies and include documents officially articulating
US strategy. The list includes the draft "Doctrine of Joint Military
Operations" issued by the US Joint Chief of Staff on March 15, 2005
and the "National Security Strategy" issued by the White House
on March 16, 2006, both of which defiantly articulate US policies and
intentions on pre-emption, the use of force and resort to nuclear weapons
in contravention of international law, the Charter of the United Nations,
the NPT and other US multilateral undertakings on negative security
assurances.
|
|
These statements and documents, in view of past illegal behavior of the
United States, constitute matters of utmost gravity that require urgent,
concerted and resolute response on the part of the United Nations and
particularly the Security Council.
|
|
It is indeed regrettable that past failures have emboldened senior US
officials and even others to consider the threat or use of force, both of
which are specifically rejected under Article 2(4) of the Charter as
violations of one of the most fundamental principles of the Organization,
as options available on the table.
|
|
The United Nations has a fundamental responsibility to reject those
assertions and to arrest this trend.
|
|
It will be highly appreciated if this letter and its annex were circulated
as a document of the General Assembly under Agenda Items 9, 82, 87, 94,
95, 97, 110 and of the Security Council.
|
|
Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest
consideration.
|
|
(Signed) M. Javad Zarif
|
|
| Back |
