New Delhi: Iran has levelled a scathing accusation against the United States and Israel, condemning their “open threats” to assassinate Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as blatant acts of state terrorism.
In a strongly worded statement to the United Nations Security Council, Iran’s Permanent Mission demanded that the international body fulfil its legal obligations to address this “criminal and provocative rhetoric” adopted by the two countries.
“The US and the Zionist regime of Israel have openly threatened to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader. This criminal act constitutes a manifest instance of State terrorism; and, the very gravity of such a threat must not be permitted to be diminished or normalised in any manner whatsoever,” said the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations.
The statement directly references comments made by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, who alluded to Khamenei potentially facing a similar fate to Saddam Hussein, and US President Donald Trump’s past assertions that Khamenei was an “easy target”.
Iran also pointed to Trump’s recent claim that the US prevented Khamenei’s death, characterising these statements as “unlawful, provocative, and terror-inciting.”
Iran argues that these threats by high-ranking officials violate the UN Charter, specifically Article 2(4), which prohibits the threat or use of force against a state’s territorial integrity or political independence. “Such reckless and deliberate threats by senior officials constitute a serious violation of the Charter of the United Nations, particularly Article 2(4), which unequivocally prohibits both the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State.”
Beyond the direct assassination threats, Iran also condemned Israel’s military actions against Iran on June 13th, characterising them as an “unprovoked and large-scale military aggression” in violation of international law. Iran highlighted Israel’s history of alleged state-sponsored assassinations, extraterritorial terror operations, and targeted killings of Iranian officials, nuclear scientists, and civilians.
“Such threats set a dangerous precedent by seeking to normalise assassination as a tool of foreign policy, in blatant contempt for the international legal order. The international community must not remain silent in the face of such clear and escalating violations of international law,” it added.
Iran appealed to the UN Secretary-General, the Security Council President, and the General Assembly President, urging them to take concrete action against what it terms “criminal and provocative rhetoric.” “If (Khamenei) had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,” Israel Katz had earlier said to Israeli media.
