Israeli Pattern of Killing Children Repeated in Iran: UN Envoy

In an address to a meeting of the UN Security Council on “Children and Armed Conflict”, held in New York on June 26, Saeed Iravani vehemently condemned the Israeli regime’s brutal aggression against Iran, saying the Zionist regime has deliberately attacked civilians and killed dozens of children, including toddlers and babies as young as 2 months old, across Iran.

What follows is the full text of his speech:

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Thank you, Madam President, for organizing this important annual open debate. I also thank the briefers for their contributions. Regrettably, international humanitarian law continues to be systematically and widely violated, and children still bear the brunt of wars they neither started nor ever wanted.

Armed conflicts endanger the lives and well-being of children while having far-reaching short-term and long-term impacts on their health, education, development, and future. Adherence to international humanitarian law is among the key commitments that should be observed by all to ensure effective protection of children.

Madam President,

According to the UN reports, over fifty thousand Palestinian children have been killed or injured by Israel since 2023.

The magnitude of the savagery of the Israeli regime is to the extent that, due to its persistent killing of children, a new term has emerged, as I quote, “Wounded Child, No Surviving Family,” which refers to Palestinian parents who were killed while their children were left injured.

In addition to deliberate attacks by Israel against children and civilian objects necessary for children, such as schools and hospitals, hundreds of thousands of children have been deliberately deprived of access to food, water, medicine, and other basic services.

Right now, many of them are subjected to starvation as a method of warfare by Israel, while they are also facing the risk of being targeted in lines awaiting humanitarian assistance.

Madam President,

Throughout the past weeks, the world witnessed in anguish and anger the same pattern and practice of the Israeli regime in killing children, this time in Iran.

The regime, in the course of its brutal aggression against my country, deliberately attacked civilians since 13 June, killing dozens of children, including toddlers and babies as young as 2 months old.

The horrific atrocities and the widespread and systematic attacks of the occupying regime in the region are increasing; this is a red alert for the international community and demonstrates the serious perils and dangers that the Israeli regime poses to the lives, well-being, safety, and security of children.

However, the regime will be held fully accountable for its crimes, in particular, the policy and practice of targeting children.

Madam President,

Last week, the Israeli regime was included again in the blacklist of parties that commit grave violations affecting children in situations of armed conflict on the agenda of the Security Council.

While this is an essential initial step, it is neither enough nor proportionate for stopping the regime’s targeting of children.

This very august body must shoulder its responsibilities to save the lives of children as soon as possible and thus immediately adopt effective enforcement actions against the child-killing regime of Israel.

Although the United States has blocked every effort of the UN Security Council that sought to protect Palestinian children, we should not give up in the face of such double standards and hypocrisy; all legal avenues must be exhausted to ensure the protection of the Palestinian people, including their children.

In conclusion, Madam President, I categorically reject the baseless and irrelevant fabrications leveled against my country yesterday in this chamber by the representative of the child-killing Israeli regime. That regime had no choice but to resort to lies and misinformation before this Council, but these accusations hardly deserve a response —the facts speak for themselves.

I thank you.