The harrowing killing of over 175 schoolchildren and educators at Shajare Tayyebe Elementary in Iran’s southern city of Minab has drawn international outrage and condemnation.
What follows is the text of the speech by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi at the emergency session of the United Nations Human Rights Council regarding the investigation of the terrorist attack by the US on the school:
Distinguished Delegates,
Iran stands today amid the throes of an illegal war imposed by two bullying nuclear armed regimes, the United States and Israel.
This war of aggression is blatantly unjustified and brutal. They initiated this aggression on 28 February, while Iran and the U.S. were engaged in a diplomatic process to resolve Americans’ alleged concerns over Iran’s nuclear program. They betrayed diplomacy for a second time in the course of nine months by torpedoing the negotiating table.
Among the most harrowing manifestations of this aggression, was the calculated, phased assault on Shajare Tayyebe Elementary school in the city of Minab, south of Iran, where more than 175 students and teachers were slaughtered in cold blood.
This cruel attack is but the visible tip of a far bigger iceberg—one that conceals beneath its surface far graver catastrophes, namely: the normalization of the most abhorrent violations of human rights and humanitarian law, and the audacity to commit atrocity crimes with impunity.
Mr. President,
At a time when the American-Israeli aggressors, in their own assertions, possess the most advanced technologies, and the highest-precision military and data systems, no one can believe that the attack on the school was anything other than deliberate and intentional.
Targeting Shajare Tayyebe School was a war crime and a crime against humanity—one that demands unequivocal condemnation by all and unambiguous accountability for the culprits. This atrocity cannot be justified, cannot be concealed, and must not be met with silence and indifference. The attack on Shajare Tayyebe school in Minab, was not a mere “incident” nor a “miscalculation.” The United States’ contradictory remarks aimed at justifying their crime could not, in any manner, elude their responsibility.
To denounce such a merciless assault on a place inherently civilian, a place where the most innocents reside and pursue knowledge, is not merely a legal obligation under human rights frameworks; it is a moral and human imperative.
Our conscience will judge us more profoundly than any tribunal ever could.
Distinguished delegates,
Shajare Tayyebe elementary School has not been the only casualty of American-Israeli atrocity crimes during the past 27 days of their illegal war. Human rights and IHL have been massively and systematically violated by the invaders in an unprecedentedly brutal manner. They are targeting civilians and civilian infrastructures with no regard for laws of war and basic principles of humanity and civility.
More than 600 schools have been demolished or damaged across Iran and more than 1000 students and teachers martyred or wounded as the result.
The Aggressors, who are arrogantly shouting ‘no mercy, no quarters’, and threatening to strike Iran’s vital infrastructures, have been attacking hospitals, ambulances, health workers, Red Crescent rescuers, refineries, water sources and residential areas.
‘War crime’ and ‘crime against humanity’ are not sufficiently describing the gravity of the atrocities they are committing; the aggressors’ targeting pattern accompanied by their rhetorics leave little doubt as to their clear intent to commit genocide.
Distinguished colleagues,
This unjust war of whims by the United States and Israel against the noble nation of Iran is the direct result of silence in the face of earlier manifestations of lawlessness and atrocity in occupied Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere. Indifference and silence in the face of injustices would bring no security and peace. It would invite more insecurity and right violations. The United Nations and the core values it embodies as well as the overall human right framework are at serious stake.
You all need to call out the aggressors and let them know that the community of States, the human collective conscience, hold them accountable for the abhorrent crimes they are committing against Iranians.
Iran has never sought war. Iranians are a peaceful noble nation inheriting one of the richest civilizations on earth. Yet, they have demonstrated absolute resolve and determination to defend themselves against the brutal aggressors who know no boundary in perpetrating all sorts of crimes—a defense that shall persist as long as needed.
Thank you.