Iran’s UN mission says retaliation will not be ‘to the detriment’ of possible ceasefire
In response to questions about whether Iran would defer retaliatory strikes against Israel until proposed ceasefire talks happen next week, the Iranian mission to the UN has said any ceasefire agreement recognised by Hamas would also be recognised by Iran.
“Our priority is to establish a lasting ceasefire in Gaza; any agreement accepted by Hamas will also be recognised by us,” the mission said in a statement.
“The Israeli regime has violated our national security and sovereignty through its recent act of terrorism,” it said, referring to the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July in an attack widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.
“We have the legitimate right to self-defence – a matter totally unrelated to the Gaza ceasefire. However, we hope that our response will be timed and conducted in a manner not to the detriment of the potential ceasefire,” the statement reads.
The mission added that “direct and intermediary” lines of communication have “always existed” between Iran and the US.
UN rapporteur condemns Israel’s extrajudicial ‘killings and murders’
The UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese has condemned Israel’s use of extrajudicial “killings and murders”, saying recent assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah officials in Iran and Lebanon may “amount to an act of aggression”.
“Israel’s history of targeted assassinations [of mostly Palestinians] in Palestine and abroad, is long and can no longer remain unaccounted for. Independent and transparent investigations and accountability must be part of the road to peace,” she wrote in a post on X.
Together with other UN experts, I have condemned the escalating violence in the Middle East, and the recent round of extrajudicially killings and murders, from #Lebanon to #Iran -which may also amount to an act of aggression.
Israel's history of targeted assassinations (of… https://t.co/XqT0uIL7dJ
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) August 10, 2024
May amount? How is it not an act of aggression?
