Iran Raps Israeli Genocidal Crimes, Urges Global Action to Uphold Int’l Law

Addressing the UN General Assembly meeting on the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime, held in New York on December 9, Saeed Iravani underscored the international community’s legal and moral duty to prevent atrocities wherever they occur.

What follows is the full text of his speech:

Madam President,

Distinguished delegates,

As we gather today at this high-level meeting of the General Assembly to mark the tenth anniversary of the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide, we reaffirm our utmost commitment to fighting against the crime of genocide and preventing it.

As a co-sponsor of the General Assembly Resolution establishing this Day, we honor the dignity of all victims whose suffering compels the international community to act with conviction and moral clarity. Preventing genocide is not merely a shared aspiration; it is a binding obligation under international law, and a solemn duty owed to humanity. It is indeed our collective responsibility to prevent and punish genocide wherever and whenever it threatens.

All States Parties bear the erga omnes obligation to prevent and punish genocide, and to refrain from rendering any aid or assistance to its commission. The prohibition of genocide is a peremptory norm of international law—one that no State may disregard, diminish, or selectively apply. Justice must be pursued relentlessly, for impunity only nurtures further atrocities.

In this regard, we commend professional and principled work carried out by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory that presents deeply alarming conclusions regarding acts amounting to genocide by the Israeli regime in Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly and openly defied international law, violating international humanitarian law and international human rights law in ways extensively documented by UN mechanisms.

The International Court of Justice in its advisory opinion has already described genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Israeli military operations have resulted in unprecedented killing and serious harm, the imposition of total siege and starvation, systematic destruction of healthcare and education systems as well as acts of sexual violence and widespread torture, direct targeting of women and children, widespread attacks on cultural and religious sites, and the obstruction of life-saving humanitarian aid. These acts cannot be justified, minimized, or obscured.

We must confront the role of certain Western media platforms whose distortion and dehumanizing rhetoric have facilitated the justification of these genocidal acts. As the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Albanese, has highlighted in her report, many Western States have facilitated, legitimized and eventually normalized this genocidal campaign, reproducing colonial narratives and Israeli distortions of international law, all while hiding behind diplomacy.

Madam President,

Genocide cannot be erased by silence. Our voice for justice counts. The suffering of ‎genocide’s victims should transform our sorrow into a united determination to end this atrocity ‎once and for all. The United Nations must lead this effort—not just through holding such ‎commemoration events, but through the genuine moral will of its entire membership. The world must act—‎decisively, collectively, and without delay—to end this atrocity and uphold the dignity of ‎victims of genocide./tasnim