Gholam-Ali Khoshroo, Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the UN, told a recent meeting of Security Council that UN’S decision to temporarily reverse the blacklisting of Saudi Arabia for killing Yemeni children amounts to a betrayal of the defenseless minors.
The Iranian envoy also stressed that the about-face took place under “financial and political pressure.”
“Have the airstrikes in Yemen, which have so far killed hundreds of Yemeni children, led to anything other than [prompting] the growth of al-Qaeda and the Daesh?” Khoshroo asked.
The Iranian official also pointed to the latest report by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, saying attacks on Yemeni children had, over the last year, reached 1,953 instances, which reflected a six-fold increase.
Back in June, the world body blacklisted Saudi Arabia after concluding in a report that Riyadh had been responsible for 60 percent of the 785 deaths of children in the Saudi war on Yemen last year.
A few days later, however, the world body announced that Saudi Arabia would be taken off the list pending a joint review with Saudi Arabia.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian envoy said that the reversal equaled the “betrayal of the rights of the most vulnerable portion of the [Yemeni] civilian population, namely children, for whose very protection the international mechanism has been designed.”
The death toll from the aggression has risen to about 10,000.
It is notable that Imam Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic through his messages and speeches had recommended the Iranian officials to support oppressed nations on international forums and arenas.
Following the footsteps of Imam, Tehran has made its top priority of its foreign policy to defend the rights of oppressed nations at the UN and other international organizations.