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Iran decries revocation of Tehran’s General Assembly voting rights

UN headquarters, New York. Stock Image

Iran has condemned a UN decision to temporarily revoke Tehran’s voting rights in the General Assembly over its outstanding contributions to the world body.

Tehran maintains it has paid its dues to the world body regularly and that the economic sanctions have made payments increasingly difficult for the country.

Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has strongly condemned a United Nations decision to strip Tehran of its voting rights at the UN General Assembly.

This decision is fundamentally flawed, entirely unacceptable, and completely unjustified, as Iran's inability to fulfill its financial obligation toward the United Nations is indirectly caused by unlawful unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States to punish those who comply with the Security Council Resolution.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian Foreign Minister

In a letter to the UN chief Zarif said taking away Iran's voting privileges violates the UN Charter and the spirit of sovereign equality of member states.

He said Iran failed to pay its dues because of extreme conditions imposed by the US on its banking relations. Zarif stressed that Washington's "economic terrorism has faced Iran with difficulty buying food and medicine, let alone paying its UN fees”.

He accused the United States of attempting to mass starve the Iranian people, and condemned the United Nations’ inaction on anti Iran sanctions.

Zarif noted that, nevertheless, his country remains committed to settling its arrears.

The UN should totally understand Iran's position, it's been sanctioned by the worst international sanctions ever imposed on a nation, arguably, in the modern era, and yet the United Nations has obviously, religiously, decided to ignore the realities and the circumstances of The Islamic Republic of Iran.

Of course it goes deeper than this, the United Nations relies on the US of A for its funds, the majority of the funds that keep the United Nations going come from America, and of course they're based primarily in the US as well.

 It's a misnomer to imagine that the UN is independent.

Seyyed Mohsin Abbas, Journalist and Political Commentator

In the meantime, Iran maintains that it has always paid its dues to the international body, despite the sanctions.

The spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, declared that the country has regularly paid its UN membership dues during the past years, despite unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran, which have made financial transactions difficult for the Islamic Republic.

Mr Khatibzadeh said Tehran has been in talks with the UN treasury to settle the debt. He also urged the world body to introduce a self transaction channel after the US blocked the previous channels used by the Islamic Republic to transfer money.

The foreign ministry spokesperson said Iran has proposed using its frozen assets in South Korea to pay off the arrears.

He said the United Nations Secretariat is completely aware of the details of the issue, which he said Iran was not to blame.

According to a statement by the UN General Assembly, as of 21st of May 2021, five member states are subject to provisions of article 19 of the charter, including Iran and the Central African Republic.

Nothing is being left unturned, no stone is being left unturned, to make Iran bow, The Islamic Republic of Iran is arguably one of the last nations still not to be part of the Bank of International Settlements, if you like subjugated sovereign powers, it is a running feed those who control those institutions and have those levers, don't want Iran to succeed in any way, because the Islamic Republic of Iran stands for a set of principles, primarily Islamic principles, but humanitarian principles and real principles of justice and fairness.

Seyyed Mohsin Abbas, Journalist and Political Commentator

This is while the same article allows an exception for member states that can demonstrate the conditions beyond their control, contributed to their inability to make payments, but the world body has so far, rejected Iran's argument that the impact of the sanctions prevented Iran from paying off its arrears.

 


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