Address by His Excellency Dr. Araghchi the Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs at the International Conference

International Law Under Attack: Aggression and Defense

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

 

Distinguished scholars and thinkers,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I welcome you all to Tehran and to the Institute of Political and International Studies (IPIS) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I am delighted to have the opportunity to be here and exchange views at this conference today, on the highly significant topic of international law under attack.

Distinguished guests,

On the eightieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, and at a time when we might have expected to witness unprecedented adherence to the principles and foundations of international law as universal virtues, and a celebration of the international community’s achievements in this domain, we are regrettably witnessing a full-scale assault on these very principles by revisionist powers.

Today, we stand before a reality to which one can no longer turn a blind eye or leave unspoken: international law is under attack. The world faces profound challenges, worrying trends, and unprecedented strategic shifts at various levels.

The foundational pillars of international law have come under the most severe attacks from powers that were expected to be its custodians as the perpetual proponents of the post-Second World War international order. Even the established normative structure since the founding of the United Nations has descended into widespread chaos, to the extent that instead of ‘war and violence’ being the exception and ‘peace and coexistence’ the rule, violence and war have become a new norm in international relations and the use of military tools has become the standard for advancing the foreign policy objectives of certain countries.

The current situation is the fruit and upshot of anti-international law trends that have, regrettably, been pursued in recent years by the United States and some of its allied states in favour of a West-centric order, under the slogan of a ‘rules-based international order’ rather than a ‘law-based international order.’

In practice, the rules-based order has been interpreted and construed based on the transient and seasonal intentions, objectives, and interests of Western countries, and, by and large, in opposition to international law, serving in the most selective manner possible as a tool for the intoxicated hegemonic ambitions of the United States and the West.

Regrettably, the countless warnings from leading international figures and various countries, including the Global South, regarding the necessity of returning to an international law based on universality, equality, and the rejection of force and discrimination, have gone unheeded. This has reached a point where today, there is even less talk of a rules-based order, and in effect, we are witnessing an attempt by the United States and some of its allies to construct a ‘force-based international order.’

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