Abbas Araghchi (00:04):
[Arabic language 00:00:02]. Very good morning to you, ladies and gentlemen. I'm so glad to be with you this morning. Actually, we invited you yesterday for a briefing on the latest developments on the ground and, of course, on diplomatic process, because I came here from Geneva, where we had our first ministerial meeting of Iran E3. And then I had here, yesterday, lots of useful, important meetings with the foreign ministers of our region. And we discussed about different initiatives and ideas, existed for a peaceful settlement of this question. But, as all of you know, we suddenly faced with the aggression by American forces to our nuclear facilities.
(01:19)
The Islamic Republic of Iran condemns, in the strongest terms, the United States' brutal military aggression against Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities. It is an outrageous, grave and unprecedented violation of the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law. The warmongering and lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far-reaching implications of its act of aggression.
(02:02)
The U.S. military attack on the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of a UN member state, carried out in collision with the genocidal Israeli regime, has once again revealed the extent of the United States' hostility towards the peace-seeking people of Iran, who will never compromise over their independence and sovereignty. The Islamic Republic of Iran continue to defend Iran's territory, sovereignty, security, and people, by all means necessary, against not just U.S. military aggression, but also the reckless and unlawful actions of the Israeli regime.
(02:56)
While President Trump was elected on platform of putting an end to America's costly involvement of forever wars in our part of the world, he has betrayed not only Iran, by abusing our commitment to diplomacy, but also deceived his own voters by submitting to the wishes of a wanted war criminal, who has grown accustomed to exploiting the lives and wealth of American citizens to further the Israeli regime's objectives.
(03:31)
The U.S. act of aggression against Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities constitutes not only a flagrant breach of the UN Charter, especially the prohibition of the use of force under Article II, paragraph four: an obligation to respect the state's territorial integrity and sovereignty, but also a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231. It cannot be emphasized enough how much of a devastating blow that the U.S., a permanent member of the Security Council, has dealt to the global non-proliferation regime.
(04:14)
The Islamic Republic of Iran reminds the United Nations, the Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and other relevant international bodies of their duty and responsibility to take urgent and decisive action in response to this breach of international law. Silence in the face of such blatant aggression will plunge the world into an unprecedented level of danger and chaos. Humanity has come too far to allow a lawless bully to take us back to the law of the jungle.
(05:02)
The Islamic Republic of Iran calls on the Security Council to convene an emergency session to unequivocally condemn the criminal act of aggression by the United States against Iran, and to hold the administration in Washington accountable for its violations of fundamental principles of United Nations Charter, and of norms of international law. The responsibility of the IAEA and its Director General, who, through evidence, bias in favor of warmongering parties, pave the way for the current violence and bloodshed, is now clearer than ever.
(05:46)
We call on the IAEA Board of Governors to immediately convene and carry out its legal responsibility in response to the dangerous U.S. attack on Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities, all of which have been under the agency's full safeguards and monitoring. The world must not forget that it was the United States, which, in the midst of a process to forge a diplomatic outcome, betrayed diplomacy by supporting the genocidal Israeli regime's launch of an illegal war of aggression on the Iranian nation.
(06:26)
Not content with such malign actions, the United States itself has now also opted for a dangerous military operation and aggression against the people of Iran. In doing so, the U.S. administration holds sole and full responsibility for the consequences of its actions, including the Islamic Republic of Iran's right to self-defense under the principles of the United Charter. In accordance with the UN Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its security, interest, and people. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
[Arabic language 00:07:18].
Abbas Araghchi (07:17):
Well, I have been in touch with Tehran, of course. I still do not have exact information about the level of damages. But I don't think it matters how much damages have been made. Attacking a nuclear facility, by itself, is an unforgivable violation of international law and should be condemned.
(08:30)
Yesterday, as I said, I had discussion and talks with a number of foreign ministers of the region. Almost all of them are very much concerned and interested to payroll to end this aggression by Israel, of course. Were worried about a possible attack by the United States, but yesterday we were all talking about how to stop the Israeli aggression.
(09:07)
Well, of course, the door for diplomacy should be always… keep open, but this is not the case right now. My country has been under attack, under aggression, and we have to respond, based on our legitimate drive of self-defense, and we will do that as long as needed and necessary.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
We'd now like to take question from Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera (09:50):
Thank you very much, Minister. So, you say that you need to respond right now, but we know that Iranians are known for their talents in negotiations, in diplomacy, and trade. What would be the conditions, after responding, for Iran to come back to a negotiation table, maybe with the U.S. as well? And Turkey has been offering that Ankara can mediate for a trilateral between Turkey, U.S., and Iran. What would be your response to that? Because right now, the U.S. is technically involved in this conflict. Thank you.
Abbas Araghchi (10:30):
Well, I think it is irrelevant to ask Iran to return to diplomacy, because we were in the middle of diplomacy; we were in the middle of talks with the United States when Israelis blew it up. And again, we were in the middle of talks and negotiation with Europeans… happened only two days ago in Geneva… when this time Americans decided to blow it up.
(11:03)
So we were in diplomacy, but we were attacked militarily. So it was not Iran, but the U.S. who betrayed diplomacy. They betrayed negotiations, when, at the middle of negotiations with us, they gave green light to Israelis… if not, instructed them… to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. I think they have proved that they are not men of diplomacy, and they only understand the language of threat and force. And this is very unfortunate.
(12:02)
The United States showed that they have no respect to United Nations Charter, they have no respect to international law, they have no respect to any international law regarding managing the world and facing challenges of the world. There is no red line that they have not crossed. And the last one, and the most dangerous one, happened only last night, when they crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities.
(12:54)
I don't know how much room is left for diplomacy. We are now calculating the damages. And, as I said, the damages are not only for our nuclear facilities, the damages are for the United Nation Charter. It was not only Iran's facilities which was bombed; it was also the United Nations Charter. It was also non-proliferation regime, and NPT, which was bombed last night by Americans. And it was the rule of law and international law which was bombed. So now we have to see how much room is left for diplomacy, and we will decide.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
I'd like to hand over to TRT World.
TRT World (13:48):
Mr. Minister, the U.S. President, Donald Trump, warned that Iran must now make peace, otherwise the future attacks, he says, would be far greater and much easier. So how is Tehran responding to that threat from Washington? Thank you.
Abbas Araghchi (14:04):
I think it's not up to Iran to respond to that; the whole international community should respond of such a clear threat against the United Nations Charter. Iran has done nothing wrong. We do not understand why Iran should be attacked for a false accusation that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons. It's now more than 20 years that we are trying to prove that our peaceful nuclear program is, in fact, peaceful, and would remain peaceful.
(14:48)
We negotiated for a long time with the so-called P5+1, and we came to a deal which the whole world celebrated as an achievement of diplomacy. And then it was the U.S. who withdrew from that deal, and reimposed their sanctions, and restarted their threats. Again, we were negotiating with the same administration, then all of sudden they decided to attack us, first by Israelis, then by themselves, and now they are threatening us for more attacks.
(15:29)
So it's not up to Iran, but it's up to international community to condemn this, to prevent this; otherwise, there would be nothing left for the international law, for the security at the world level. The security council should play its role, should play its responsibility, to condemn and prevent these kind of threats.
(15:59)
We will certainly defend our interest. We will certainly defend our territorial integrity, our sovereignty, and our people. And I'm so glad that our people are now… fully understand what injustice they are doing against the Iranian people. They are united and in solidarity with the government, and we stand firm against any aggression.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Next, CNN Turk.
CNN Turk (16:37):
Mr. Minister, how do you assess the West's stance on Israel massacres? No one seems to mention Israel's allegedly illegal nuclear weapons. The German Chancellor even said, "Israel is doing the dirty work for us." So what is your response? Thank you.
Abbas Araghchi (16:56):
Well, what should I say? You said everything. That Iran is under attack by a nuclear-armed superpower and a nuclear-armed regime. And Iran, as you know, is a non-nuclear armed country. That should be certainly condemned. If not, the whole non-proliferation regime would be undermined and would be defeated. Iran is a committed member of NPT, but NPT is not able to protect us. So why, a country like Iran, or other countries who are interested to have a peaceful nuclear energy, should rely on NPT for their peaceful activities?
(18:03)
It is very unfortunate that Israel is doing, as the German Chancellor called, a "dirty job." And by the way, they supported that dirty job. It's a shame. They know that Israel is doing a dirty job and they support it, and they give it every right to do it, and they call it defending itself. It's really a shame.
CNN Turk (18:41):
[inaudible 00:18:47].
Abbas Araghchi (18:46):
Pardon?
CNN Turk (18:46):
[inaudible 00:18:51].
Abbas Araghchi (18:51):
Well, I think I'm not in a position to reveal what we are going to do in response to what Americans did last night. I just talked about the fact that NPT failed to protect Iran from its peaceful nuclear program, and this is a serious challenge.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Next, we'd like to take a question from IRIB.
