Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: "The United States has violated its international obligations by imposing illegal restrictions against the high-ranking Iranian delegation."
The full text of Iravani's letter is as follows:
In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
No. 2646974 23 September 2025
Excellency,
Upon the instruction received, I would like to draw your kind attention to yet another gross violation of obligations by the Host Country of the United Nations Headquarters.
On 8 September 2025, the United States of America through No. HC 2025-92, announced the imposition of illegal restrictions on the freedom of movement of H.E. Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H.E. Dr. Seyed Abbas Araghchi, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and other members of the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran traveling to New York to participate in the High-Level Segment of the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly.
The Host Country has limited their movement to a very confined area of less than half a mile radius from the United Nations Headquarters, that is an area which is bound by Second Avenue, East 42nd and East 49th Street.
In addition, the United States has subjected travel and movements outside the perimeter and routes imposed, to the submission of a prior "request", along with "appropriate justifications" to the internal authorities of the Host Country and subsequent approval of the "request" on the part of the Host Country. The hotel where the Iranian delegation reside has also been subjected to movement restrictions; the host country has asked for prior "request" for traveling to and from their place of lodging. Over the recent days, these impediments have prevented the Iranian delegation from attending several meetings convened outside the perimeter imposed by the Host Country.
On 18 September 2025, the Host Country announced, inter alia, the imposition of further unlawful restrictions to interfere with the inviolability and privacy of Iranian representatives by requiring submission of request for purchase of essentials from certain stores and divulge their ordinary purchases, their usage and type, etc. to the Host Country. These unlawful measures constitute as an affront to their person, honour, and dignity of representatives.
In this context, the United States has further abused its privilege of hosting the United Nations to disseminate disinformation against the Iranian delegation through defamatory false rhetoric.
Such violations should be understood in tandem with other internationally wrongful acts of the United States under the so-called "maximum pressure" which, inter alia, include commission of acts of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran in June 2025 and promulgation and application of unilateral coercive measures against the Iranian people.
The United States has long been deliberately inflicting severe conditions of life upon the Iranian people and has been grossly violating their fundamental human rights including the right to life and the right to health, amongst others by impeding their access to medicine, essential medical equipment, and humanitarian commodities. Attacking on the dignity of and disseminating disinformation against Iranian representatives could not deflect these sobering facts nor alter the reality.
Either by aggression or unilateral coercive measures, the sole objective of the United States has been to weaken the rule of law at the international level and undermine the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations; such policy has now been intensified against the United Nations and its Member States through attacking the dignity of Iranian representatives, impeding the performance of their functions, late issuance of visas, dissemination of disinformation against them, among others.
Ex iniuria ius non oritur, law could not arise from injustice and violation; these restrictions could not be justified under any circumstances. Notwithstanding the illegality per se of such restrictions on the freedom of movement' of representatives of Member States to the United Nations, the unlawful restrictions, as also evinced by the official statements of the Host Country, are imposed on the basis of bilateral political consideration of the United States vis-å-vis the Islamic Republic of Iran; the United States officials have clearly stated that such illegal acts serve as an element of their purported "maximum pressure". Whereas the Host Country could not derogate from its obligations due to its bilateral political consideration; the illegal restrictions constitute an aggravated breach of its obligations.
These restrictions are flagrant violations of the obligations of the Host Country under relevant international law, including the relevant international legal instruments, inter alia, Article 105 of the Charter of the United Nations, the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations (1946), the Agreement between the United Nations and the United States of America regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations (1947) and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961). Such illegal measures also violate the inviolability of representatives and constitute an attack on their person, honor and dignity while manifestly demonstrate breach of the obligation of the Host Country including the obligation to respect the immunity of representatives, inter alia, from administrative jurisdiction.
The Host Country of the United Nations Headquarters could not derogate from its obligations thereof on the basis of bilateral political considerations nor upon the basis that the acts in derogation are of subordinate character to its domestic laws. Eventually, the Host Country should accord full facilities for the performance of functions of Member States' missions and representatives; ensuring freedom of movement and travel is part of this parcel. Non-discrimination in implementation of obligations owned to Member States and to the United Nations as a whole, constitutes a foundational element in realizing and giving effect to relevant obligations of the Host Country, in particular those arising from Article 105 of the Charter of the United Nations, as well as from the sovereign equality of Member States. Such unlawful movement restrictions contravene the very letter and spirit of the Charter of the United Nations and grossly violate the fundamental principle of sovereign equality, upon which, the Organization is based, as per article 2(1) of the UN Charter.
I would like to recall the position of the UN Legal Counsel in 1967 that "the Organization could not function properly if representatives of Members were prevented from performing their functions or from travelling to and from meetings." The corollary of this statement is that the failure of the Host Country in ensuring this important element would actually inflict irreparable harms to the functions of the Organization as well as rights and prerogatives of Member States. As mentioned by the Legal Counsel of the United Nations in 1967 "the Organization had a clear interest in assuring the privileges and immunities. It therefore seemed elementary that the rights of representatives should properly be protected by the organization.
Therefore, the Secretary-General would continue to feel obligated to assert the rights and interests of the Organization on behalf of representatives of Members as the occasion may arise."
Omission against the systematic and deliberate these unlawful acts against the United Nations system sets a dangerous path to further hinder exercise of its functions. I understand that there are available legal ways and means on the basis of which the United Nations Organization could respond to such violations of obligations by the Host Country of the UN Headquarters including section 21 of the Headquarters Agreement (1947). In view of this and the urgency of the matter, we expect the SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations to urgently take appropriate measures in this respect and discharge his mandates to ensure that impediments are terminated forthwith and that obligations of the Host Country are fully implemented.
We reiterate that the Host Country should act in consequence of its obligations and refrain from any act or omission that may hinder the efficient performance of functions of representatives; this requires, among others, that the Host Country implement its obligations in good faith, on the basis of non-discrimination and free from bilateral political considerations, stop its defamatory campaign of disinformation and respect the honour and dignity of the Iranian representatives.
I would like to hereby request that the present letter be circulated as a document of the United Nations General Assembly under the agenda item (160) entitled "Report of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country."
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
RHM/
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