Iran complains to UN about Ben-Eliezer

Says Fuad's threats to "destroy" Iran if it attacks Israel "blatantly" defies international law, UN charter.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, AP
barak ban ki-moon 224 88 (photo credit: AP)
barak ban ki-moon 224 88
(photo credit: AP)
Iran has lodged a complaint with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer's remarks this week that Israel would destroy Iran if it were attacked first. "An Iranian attack will prompt a severe reaction from Israel, which will destroy the Iranian nation," Ben-Eliezer said on April 7, as the nation conducted the largest home front security drill in its history. Teheran, the minister added, "is definitely aware of our strength. Even so, they are teasing us with their alliances with Syria and Hizbullah, and supplying them with many weapons, and we have to deal with that." In a letter to Ban, Iran's UN envoy, Muhammad Khazei wrote that "The Israel regime continues to make impudent threats against Iran...[Ben-Eliezer], in his April 7 remarks, which blatantly violated international law and the UN Charter, threatened the Iranian nation with destruction." Khazei's letter did not mention Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statement that Israel should be "wiped off the map," or any other Iranian threats against Israel. The Iranian leader has also denied the Holocaust. These "shameless remarks," Khazei's letter continued, followed earlier claims by other Israeli officials and constituted a serious breach of the United Nations Charter. The charter forbids the use of force by a country against another nation, Khazei pointed out. The Iranian envoy urged the Security Council to respond to Ben-Eliezer's remarks and keep Israel from "threatening" another state in the future. The Iranian ambassador told the Security Council that Israel "has continued with its insolent, outrageous and unprovoked threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran ... in yet another manifestation of the terrorist, aggressive and criminal nature of the Israeli regime" and in violation of the UN Charter. "The inaction of the Security Council in this regard, has emboldened the regime to pursue this dangerous course," Khazee said. "Therefore, the Security Council should react to these vicious statements by unambiguously condemning them and calling on the regime to cease and desist immediately from the threat of using force against members of the United Nations," he added.