The United States Must Be Held Accountable for Acts of Aggression Against Iran

 Pursuant to my previous letters dated June 13, 2025 (S/2025/379), June 22, 2025 (S/2025/405) and June 28, 2025 (S/2025/429) concerning the brazen acts of aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime from June 13 to 24, 2025 against my country, I am compelled once again to bring to public attention a matter of grave international concern.

On November 6, 2025, the President of the United States stated that: “Israel attacked [Iran] first. That attack was very, very powerful. I was very much in charge of that.”

Under international law, this constitutes clear evidence of the direction and control of the United States with respect to the said unlawful acts. As informed earlier, the act of aggression by the Israeli regime and the United States was carried out against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and in blatant violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.

It included attacks against civilians and civilian objects in clear disregard for principles of international law and international humanitarian law, leading to the martyrdom of more than 1,100 innocent people and injury of many others. These wanton attacks also targeted civilian infrastructure, including Iranian peaceful nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguard, in blatant violation of the UN Charter, the final documents of the NPT Review Conferences, IAEA resolutions (e.g., No. 444 and No. 533) and UN Security Council Resolution 487 of 1981.

International responsibility for the said violations is therefore attributed not only to the Israeli regime but also to the United States — including for directing and controlling the former. Based on the foregoing, the United States is under an obligation to make full reparation for the injury caused by the said violations against Iran and its citizens, including any damage, material and moral.

This includes an obligation to make restitution and compensate for the damage caused thereby, under established international law.

In the meantime, the above-said confession also entails individual criminal responsibility of the President of the United States and any other US officials and individuals involved in grave breaches of international humanitarian law — including for the crime of aggression, directing deliberate attacks against civilians (including women and children, scientists, university professors, journalists and prisoners among others), targeting senior military officers outside hostilities, and launching willful attacks against civilian objects including hospitals and ambulances, the Iranian broadcasting centre, a prison, and energy infrastructure including peaceful nuclear facilities.

This is indeed without prejudice to individual criminal responsibility of all those individuals, including within the Israeli regime, involved in commanding, ordering, committing, or aiding, abetting, and otherwise assisting in the commission of the war crimes including those referred to above.

Accordingly, the Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its full and unimpeachable right to pursue, through all available legal means, the establishment of accountability for the responsible States and individuals and also to secure compensation for the damages sustained.

It is the solemn expectation of the Islamic Republic of Iran that the United Nations Secretary-General and the Security Council take appropriate measures, in line with their responsibility vis-à-vis the maintenance of international peace and security, with a view to ensuring accountability of the United States and the Israeli regime for these gross violations, and to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.

This is from a letter by Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran.