Iran has issued a formal warning following coordinated strikes by the United States and Israel which, according to Iranian authorities, resulted in the death of the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The country’s Foreign Minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said the attacks would carry “deep and widespread” consequences, placing responsibility squarely on those he described as the aggressors. He stated that accountability “lies solely with the perpetrators.”
Araghchi conveyed Iran’s position in a letter addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, and members of the Security Council. The correspondence was dispatched on Sunday, a day after the reported strikes on Tehran and other cities.
Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, reported that the operations targeted multiple locations, including the capital, and led to the killing of the nation’s highest-ranking authority. The development marks a significant escalation in tensions involving Tehran, Washington and Tel Aviv.
In his letter, the foreign minister characterised the military action as “aggressive, unprovoked and unjustified” and accused both countries of violating Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He further alleged that the United States and Israel “deliberately” targeted the most senior official of an independent member state of the United Nations.
Describing the operation in stronger terms, Araghchi labelled it a “cowardly terrorist action” and “a direct attack on the most fundamental principles of international law, including the prohibition of the use of force, the sovereign equality of states, and the inviolability and immunity of heads of state.”
He warned that such conduct risked establishing “a precarious and unprecedented practice that would target fundamental norms of state sovereignty and civilized behaviour among nations” and could generate “dangerous unforeseen problems” within the international system.
The minister also reaffirmed Tehran’s position under international law, asserting Iran’s “inherent and inalienable” right to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and citizens in accordance with the United Nations Charter.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, situated in West Asia with Tehran as its capital, occupies a strategic location bordered by several states and connected to key waterways, including the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Its geopolitical position has long given it influence over regional security and energy transit routes.