WANA (Mar 22) – Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, has warned that any attack on the country’s vital infrastructure will be met with a “proportionate reciprocal response,” amid rising tensions over reported threats targeting key facilities.

 

Gharibabadi stated that public threats to strike power plants and other critical infrastructure cannot be dismissed as mere political rhetoric. “Such threats, from the perspective of international law, are directed at civilian objects,” he said.

 

He emphasized that established rules of international humanitarian law clearly prohibit attacks on civilian targets. “Civilian objects must not be subject to attack, and international judicial practice has left no ambiguity in this regard,” he added.

 

Referring to legal precedents, Gharibabadi cited the Prosecutor v. Stanislav Galić case at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In that case, Bosnian Serb commander Stanislav Galić was convicted for a campaign of shelling and sniper attacks against civilians in Sarajevo, establishing direct international criminal responsibility for targeting civilian populations and urban areas.

 

He further argued that attacks on civilian sites—such as a reported incident involving a girls’ school in Minab—as well as threats against power plants, could constitute war crimes, holding both perpetrators and those ordering such actions accountable.

 

Gharibabadi also criticized the United Nations Security Council for what he described as a failure to fulfill its responsibility to address acts of aggression and bring them to an end.

 

“In light of this inaction, and given the inherent right of self-defense for a country under attack, any aggression against Iran’s vital infrastructure will be met with a proportionate response,” he said.

 

He added that full legal responsibility and all consequences of any further escalation would lie with those initiating such actions.