A senior Iranian diplomat called for a "swift and robust reaction" by the international community against the United States' serious threat to the UN Charter and international relations.
Addressing a recent meeting of the UN General Assembly's Sixth Committee on the Rule of Law, Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo emphasized that multilateralism, as a major achievement of the UN system, is currently under attack.
"Unilateralism, as a pressing challenge to the rule of law … has been crystallized either in the form of withdrawal from international treaties and protocols, withdrawing from a number of important agencies, waging trade wars against countries and imposition of extraterritorial illegal sanctions," he said, according to the text of his speech published by Mehr News Agency.
He cited as an example US threats against countries that comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorses the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, after it pulled out of the accord in May and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.
"In total disregard to Article 25 of the UN Charter, the US is penalizing member states who implement and abide by a Security Council resolution," Khoshroo said.
Article 25 requires the UN members "to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present charter".
Khoshroo warned countries to be cautious regarding this outrageous move.
"The General Assembly should take action in support of the primacy of the rule of law and multilateralism, as well as stand against a member state that is threatening others to disobey international law," he said.
>Wrongful Acts
Iran's UN envoy also pointed to the recent US departure from the 1955 Treaty of Amity between Washington and Tehran, as well as the 1961 Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention as other breaches of international law.
The decision came after a recent ruling by the International Court of Justice in favor of Iran in proceedings against the US based on the friendship accord.
"The US withdrew to safeguard itself from the consequences of its illegal actions," he said.
According to Khoshroo, another manifestation of US "prohibited wrongful acts" is its confiscation of billions of dollars of Iranian assets through American court rulings.
The US Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that the assets must be turned over to families of American victims of terrorist attacks that the US blames on Iran.
"[Washington] is waiving the immunity of states under an unsubstantiated legal doctrine that the international community does not recognize," he said.
In addition, Khoshroo noted that the rule of law is challenged by unilateralism, disregard for international law and disrespect for the common interests of the global community.
"Revising this path can be considered a first step toward achieving a rule-based international order," he said.
