Khazei warns against anti-Iran draft resolution

Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaei warned strongly against anti-Iran draft resolution supported by America and Saudi Arabia over allegations of Tehran's involvement in a plan to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington. In a letter to the head of the United Nations General Assembly and the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon warned strongly against the consequences of the anti-Iran draft resolution. Khazaee in his letter said that it is a dangerous and unacceptable move which is a blow to the United Nations' reputation. He added that misusing the United Nations General Assembly as a tool, America merely seeks its "stupid goals through baseless allegations." Saudi Arabia's UN delegation submitted a draft resolution to the 193-member General Assembly to deplore an alleged plot by Iran to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington. The draft resolution was recorded at the UN Secretariat and circulated on Tuesday. The US officials claimed that the plot included the assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, Adel Al-Jubeir, with a bomb. US Attorney General Eric Holder claimed in an announcement that the plan was "conceived, sponsored and was directed from Iran" by a faction of the government and called it a "flagrant" violation of US and international law. The stunning allegations come against a backdrop of longstanding tensions between Iran and the United States and Saudi Arabia. In the last year, Saudi Arabia has attempted to build an anti-Iran alliance to push back against Iran's growing influence in the region. Saudi Arabia has started experiencing a fierce Shiite uprising since late last week and has indirectly blamed Iran for unrests in the al-Qatif region in its eastern regions. The Saudi Shiite leaders and community have dismissed the Saudi officials' allegations, saying that they have been incited only by Riyadh's oppressions and discriminatory behaviors. Khazaei said the draft resolution was an “unprecedented, dangerous and unacceptable” initiative which would discredit the UN General Assembly. The presentation of the draft resolution, which has merely been based on false claims against another UN member state, shows that the US pursues nothing but to promote its own short-sighted objectives by using the General Assembly as a tool, Khazaei pointed out. He cautioned that instead of promoting convergence and solidarity between member states, the UN General Assembly, as a major UN body, may turn into a venue to make unfounded claims and to present numerous draft resolutions about other hostile issues. The Iranian envoy emphasised that those who submitted the draft resolution have violated all the UN norms. He also said that the continuation of such approaches would undoubtedly undermine the role, capability and credit of the UN General Assembly. Khazaei once again expressed the Islamic Republic's opposition to all types of acts of terror and called on countries which submitted the anti-Iran draft resolution to remain committed to the Convention 1973. He noted that the accusations have been made by a government which has supported many terrorist operations against Iran, on which, solid documents have been presented to the UN. On October 11, the US Justice Department accused Iran of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Washington Adel al-Jubeir, with help from a man suspected of being a member of a Mexican drug cartel. Tehran says the media hype fabricated by Washington is an attempt to deflect attention from the anti-corruption and anti-corporatism protests currently going on in the United States.