Photo: Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire
Speaking to the Council today, Haley said the protests which started almost a week ago in Iran are a “spontaneous expression of fundamental human rights.” She said the events are a “powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they’re willing to risk their lives in protest.” The US ambassador called on the world to “applaud their courage.”
Haley stressed that the Iranian people are acting of their own will, on their own behalf, and for their own future adding that nothing would stop the US from standing in solidarity with them. She said in 2009, the world stood by while the hopes of the Iranian people were crushed by their government, but the US would not be silent in 2018.
Nikki Haley, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“Once again, the people of Iran are rising up. They are asking for something that no government can legitimately deny them: their human rights and fundamental freedoms. They are calling out, ‘Think of us.’ If the founding principles of this institution mean anything, we will not only hear their cry, we will finally answer it. The Iranian regime is now on notice. The world will be watching what you do.”
French ambassador François Delattre said it was the responsibility of the international community to make every effort to bring stability to the Middle East, adding that the world must commit to fully upholding the Iran nuclear deal to the letter. He emphasized that the agreement is one of the cornerstones of stability in the entire region adding that losing it would be a major setback not only for the Middle East, but for the world and for the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
Delattre expressed his country’s alarm at the events taking place in Iran. He noted that it was “up to the Iranian people, and to the Iranians alone, to peruse the path of peaceful dialogue based on full respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Iranian people.” The French ambassador said, “However worrying the events of the last few days in Iran may be, they do not constitute per se a threat to international peace and security.”
Iranian ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo said the move by the US to bring the protests in his country to the Council is an abuse of its power as a Permanent Member and an abuse of the Security Council itself.
Gholamali Khoshroo, Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations:
“There is a long history of US bullying at the UN, but this is a preposterous example. The purely internal affairs of a nation, in this case protests that the Iranian government has addressed with the utmost respect for the rights of protestors and with every attempt to deal with peacefully, despite violent infiltrators and direct encouragement by foreign forces including by the President of the United States, is not the subject of debate by the world’s most important security organ.”
Khoshroo described the US accusation that Iran is supressing protests as hypocrisy given the way American police forces dealt with several protests, naming the Occupy Wall Street protests and the 1992 Los Angeles riots among others.
Gholamali Khoshroo, Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations:
“While President Trump may be enamoured of the fact that no protesters demonstrated against his presence while he was in our neighbourhood a few months ago, he may be unaware that they have no right to protest. The fact is that in every democratic country, citizens will, from time to time, take to the streets to protest one thing or another, and Iran is no exception.”
The Iranian ambassador said the protests in Iran were being carried out by some of its citizens for legitimate grievances, however, his government has evidence that the violence taking place is being directed from abroad. He said instigators based in the United States and Europe, incited violence included by encouraging and training people to use Molotov cocktails, to seize ammunition depots, and to stage an armed uprising.