Iran's deputy UN envoy told the Security Council that the U.S. naval blockade and unilateral coercive measures violate Iran's sovereignty, freedom of navigation and international law, and called on all governments to reject and condemn them.
Gholamhossein Darzi, Iran's deputy permanent representative at the UN, told a Security Council session on conflict and food security that armed conflict remained a major driver of hunger and food insecurity, and that it could not be addressed without confronting the root causes of aggression, occupation, unlawful coercive measures and the deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure.
He said resolution 2417 condemned starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and obstruction of humanitarian access. In Gaza, he said, the "genocidal war" against Palestinians had been marked by flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, including the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure and the use of starvation as a weapon.
Darzi said the Security Council had repeatedly failed to act due to U.S. political support and obstruction. He said the U.S. and the Israeli regime launched an illegal war against Iran on February 28, 2026, which led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, several senior officials and more than 3,400 innocent civilians.
He said the Islamabad memorandum of understanding signed on June 17 explicitly obliged the U.S. to refrain from any threat or use of force against Iran. However, the United States once again fundamentally violated the MoU by launching another military aggression against Iran, which began on June 27, 2026 and led to the killing of more than 60 civilians, wounding of more than 630, and the deliberate targeting of airports, bridges, transport infrastructure, vessels, search-and-rescue facilities and weather stations,he said.
Darzi said responsibility does not rest only with the primary aggressors. States that facilitated the illegal military campaign by providing bases, logistical or intelligence support, or access to airspace must also be held accountable.
He said CENTCOM had publicly stated on August 12 that U.S. forces had diverted 59 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two.
These unlawful measures, together with the so-called economic exclusion operation announced by the U.S. Treasury Secretary on August 24, 2026, are designed to impose an economic siege on the brave Iranian people, and turn food, energy, trade and access to basic goods into instruments of pressure and war, he said.
Darzi said such illegal actions could not be justified under the pretext of security or freedom of navigation. They violated fundamental human rights, sovereign equality, non-intervention and freedom of navigation, and breached Security Council resolution 2417.
He called on the Security Council to decisively condemn and reject these unilateral coercive measures and urged all governments to reject the extraterritorial application of U.S. measures.
Iran, he said, reserved the right to pursue accountability, compensation and its rights through all available avenues.
He said that Iran once again stresses its inherent right to self-defence under international law in the face of continued U.S. aggressive and unlawful actions. Iran's actions are legal and defensive in nature.
As a coastal state of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has the legitimate right to take necessary measures in response to aggression against its territory and sovereignty, he said, adding that the only durable path to restoring peace, regional stability and safe shipping is an end to the aggression, full respect for Iran's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the lifting of illegal naval blockades and unilateral coercive measures, and credible guarantees to prevent any recurrence.
He said any arrangements for the strait could only be established, arranged and managed by its coastal states, Iran and Oman.
Darzi also rejected the baseless claims by several UNSC members against Iran over alleged disruption of maritime trade in and around the Strait of Hormuz, saying such accusations ignored the root causes and tried to shift responsibility from the aggressor to the victim.
MNA
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