Tehran condemns Israel’s repeated attacks on Syria, suspension of Russia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has condemned the repeated Israeli attacks on the Syrian territories, stressing that the aggressive practices of this entity pose a serious threat to peace and security of the region and constitute a blatant violation of the international law.

During a press conference on Monday, Spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry Saeed Khatibzadeh criticized the silence of the international community and the UN Security Council over these barbaric attacks on the Syrian sovereignty.

“Silence harms the credibility of the international community and the UN Security Council which must assume their responsibilities towards putting an end to these Israeli acts of aggression on the Syrian sovereignty,” Khatibzadeh said, pointing out that “these aggressive acts undermine the efforts of the Syrian state to achieve development and restore security to the entire country.”

 Concerning the Vienna talks, Khatibzadeh said that none of Tehran’s red lines have been abandoned during the course of the Vienna talks on the revival of the 2015 deal, stressing that a weak agreement could have been made a few months ago if the Iranian negotiators were to abandon the country’s red lines.

“The red lines have continued to be observed until today. If we were to cross the red lines, we would have reached an agreement several months ago. We have not yet reached the point that indicates the American side is living up to its commitments,” he clarified.

 He underscored that what matters to Tehran is that the Iranian nation must enjoy the economic benefits of the removal of sanctions.

“We really do not know whether we would reach a deal or not, because the United States has not yet exhibited the necessary determination to reach an agreement,” Khatibzadeh said.

On the suspension of Russia’s membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council, Khatibzadeh affirmed his country’s rejection of such a measure and of exploiting of the UN for political goals.

He urged the UN Human Rights Council to do its duties regardless of the Western countries agendas.

Hamda Mustafa