WANA (Apr 01) – Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, has formally rejected statements made by Australia regarding Tehran’s recent military actions, stressing that all Iranian measures are taken within the framework of its inherent right to self-defense.

 

In a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council, Iravani responded to claims by the Australian counterpart attributing destabilizing armed attacks to Iran.

 

He emphasized that Iran’s actions are solely defensive and a legitimate response to the use of the territories, airspace, and facilities of Persian Gulf coastal states by the United States and Israel to carry out aggressive acts and armed attacks against Iran since February 28, 2026.

 

Iravani cited international law, noting that a state’s explicit allowance for another state to use its territory to commit aggression against a third state constitutes an “act of aggression,” as stated in Article 3 of the annex to UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (29th session) dated December 14, 1974.

 

He stressed that, under this legal framework, the states involved lack a valid basis to request Australia to exercise collective self-defense on their behalf. Consequently, Australia itself is not legally positioned to comply with such a request.

 

The Iranian envoy stated that any measures claimed by Australia under the guise of collective self-defense are not only irrelevant, unfounded, and unjustifiable, but also constitute a blatant distortion of international law and could clearly be considered acts of aggression in themselves.

 

Furthermore, Iravani criticized Australia for deliberately describing the illegal attacks against Iran as merely “initial strikes” while omitting any reference to the true aggressors, the United States and Israel.

 

He called this omission a deliberate attempt to create a false narrative, misrepresenting the victim as the aggressor and the aggressors as victims, thereby distorting both legal and moral realities.