Right to Respond to Terrorist Threats Under Int’l Law Stressed

Iran reserves its legitimate and inherent right in accordance with international law and the United Nations Charter to respond to any terrorist threat or attack at any time it deems appropriate and necessary, the Iranian ambassador to the UN said. 
Saeed Iravani made the remarks in a letter to President of the UN Security Council on Monday in response to accusations of violating Iraq’s territorial integrity.
Iran has recently conducted several military operations in the Iraqi Kurdistan region in response to armed and terrorist attacks that targeted Iranian civilians and civilian infrastructures.
The measures drew criticism from the Iraqi government whose UN representative called on the Security Council to support his country’s sovereignty and condemn Iran’s attacks. 
At a UN Security Council meeting held on October 4, 2022 under the agenda item “the Situation concerning Iraq”, representatives of certain member states also accused Iran of violating Iraq’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Iravani described the accusations a disregard of the country’s inherent right to self-defense in response to terrorist attacks that target its people and national security.
He drew attention to terrorist and separatist groups such as the so-called “Democratic Kurdestan Party”, Reform Komala, Communist Komala, Pejak, and Pak based in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region who have continued to use Iraqi territory to conduct armed and terrorist attacks against civilians and Iran’s vital infrastructure. 
“From 2016 to present, they carried out 49 terrorist attacks inside and near Iran’s borders, resulting in 24 martyrs and 32 injuries,” he said. 
Most recently, exploiting recent peaceful assemblies in some Iranian cities, they have incited, armed, and equipped a number of terrorist affiliates with small arms once entering Iran, causing unrest and damage to private and public property, banks, ambulances, and police stations as well as the martyrdom of several Iranian police officers, according to the letter. 
One of the most serious terrorist sabotage plots against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities planned by the Komala terrorist group was also discovered and foiled, it added. 

No Choice 

The Iranian Foreign Ministry expressed its strong objections on numerous occasions and through sending several diplomatic notes to the Foreign Ministry of Iraq, and provided irrefutable evidence to officials in the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Region during the Joint Security Committee meetings.
They were urged to take the necessary measures, in accordance with Iraq’s obligations under international law, the principles of friendly relations and good neighborliness, as well as the Iraqi constitution, to control, disarm and refrain from sheltering such terrorist and armed groups, Iravani noted in the letter. 
However, neither the government of Iraq nor officials from the Kurdistan Region took effective and concrete measures, leaving Iran with no choice but to exercise its right to self-defense to protect its people, national security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, the ambassador said. 
“In accordance with international humanitarian law, the operations were carried out with the use of a precise weaponry system … with the sole and precise goal of targeting terrorist affiliates, their locations, and training camps … with no collateral damage,” the letter read. 
Iravani reiterated Iran’s unwavering commitment to Iraq’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity, urging the Iraqi government to exercise and extend its effective control over its entire territory within internationally recognized borders, and to refrain from harboring such terrorist and armed groups.
He also stressed that Iran has already demonstrated its genuine commitment to Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity when it assisted Baghdad in the fight against the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group. 
“It is worth noting Martyr General Qassem Soleimani’s prominent and exceptional role in defeating ISIS,” he said. 
Iravani demanded that the letter be circulated as a document of the Security Council.