Iran has sharply criticised Washington\u2019s reported attempt to push a draft resolution on the Strait of Hormuz through the UN Security Council, describing it as an effort to distort facts and protect what it called the real aggressors. <\/p>\n
In a statement posted on X late on Monday, Iran\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi said the United States, together with some regional allies, was once again trying to \u201cshift the terms of the issue\u201d by portraying the consequences of what he described as military aggression and an illegal siege as accusations against Iran itself, News.Az<\/a> reports, citing Iran’s English-language Press TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Freedom of navigation\u2019 is a respected legal principle, but it cannot be interpreted selectively, politically, and detached from the United Nations Charter,\u201d Gharibabadi wrote.<\/p>\n The senior Iranian diplomat said any genuine initiative on maritime security in the region could not ignore what he called the repeated use of force, the imposition of a naval blockade, ongoing threats, and the direct role of the United States and Israel in creating the current crisis.<\/p>\n Gharibabadi argued that the central issue was not the passage of ships \u201cin a vacuum\u201d, but attempts by certain governments to recast the consequences of their own actions in the language of \u201cinternational order\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cSuch an approach contributes neither to de-escalation, nor to maritime security, nor to the credibility of multilateral mechanisms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He added that any resolution that addressed the situation in the Strait of Hormuz without explicitly referring to aggression, siege, threats of force, and Iran\u2019s right to defend its security and national interests \u201cwill be flawed, biased, political, and doomed to failure from the outset\u201d.<\/p>\n According to Press TV, Gharibabadi\u2019s remarks came after Washington reportedly held closed-door talks with several Persian Gulf states last week to promote the draft resolution.<\/p>\n The proposed US text reportedly calls on Iran to immediately halt what it describes as \u201cattacks\u201d in the Strait of Hormuz and warns of further sanctions and possible authorisation of force if Tehran fails to comply.<\/p>\n Iran has repeatedly insisted that its actions in the strategic waterway are defensive responses to what it describes as years of US and Israeli provocations, sanctions, and efforts to militarise the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n Iranian officials also argue that the main threat to freedom of navigation comes from Washington\u2019s military presence in the region and its support for Israel\u2019s policies, according to Press TV.<\/p>\n