Iran condemns US strikes on civilians as war crimes, reaffirms its right to…

🔻 Iran condemns US strikes on civilians as war crimes, reaffirms its right to self-defense 📌 Tehran, IRNA – Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned US attacks on civilian areas and infrastructure across several provinces as “brutal war crimes” and reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s right to retaliate in self-defense. The Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Iran’s Armed Forces responded to US military aggression under the country’s “inherent right of self-defense,” after US attacks on civilian areas and service infrastructure across several Iranian provinces killed and wounded dozens of people, including more than 70 at a wedding celebration in Hormozgan province. ​ The ministry “condemned in the strongest terms” the United States’ “aggressive actions” against Iran and reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s determination to “firmly defend Iran’s independence, national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” ​ The Foreign Ministry said the regime in the United States had again violated Iran’s “national sovereignty and territorial integrity” by attacking civilian areas and service infrastructure, including telecommunications towers and sites, in Khuzestan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Hormozgan and Kerman provinces. ​ The enemy attacks killed and wounded several Iranians and caused damage to public and private property, the ministry said. ​ In one such attack, more than 70 people were killed or wounded at a wedding celebration in Kouhestak, in Hormozgan province’s Sirik County, “most of them women and children,” according to the ministry. ​ The Foreign Ministry described the attacks as “brutal war crimes,” saying they constituted “grave violations of the fundamental principles of international law.” ​ It added that the crimes “recall the previous US-Israeli crimes over the past year and a half,” including those in Minab and Lamerd. ​ In response, the ministry said Iran’s Armed Forces, acting under their “inherent right of self-defense,” struck US military bases that had served as “the origin and support” for the US aggression against Iran. ​ The Foreign Ministry reiterated its call on regional countries to prevent the United States from using their territory and facilities to prepare for and carry out “aggressive operations against Iran.” ​ It said this was necessary to prevent “the continuation and expansion of the war” and to stop a “sinister US-Israeli plot” to impose “permanent insecurity” on the region. ​ The ministry expressed its condolences over the deaths of Iranian citizens and reminded all states of their responsibility to “pursue, prosecute and punish” those responsible for, and those who ordered, grave violations of international humanitarian law. ​ The Foreign Ministry also reminded the United Nations, particularly the Security Council and the UN secretary-general, of their responsibilities under the UN Charter. ​ It warned that the “silence and inaction” of UN bodies over continued violations of the principles and rules of the UN Charter, particularly Article 2(4), by a permanent member of the Security Council would further discredit the United Nations and threaten international peace and security. 📲 ​