Iranian Regime Disregard for International Law

April 30, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2015
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Iranian Regime Disregard for International Law

UANI Releases Resource in Wake of Unlawful Vessel Seizure and Continued Illicit Nuclear Procurement

 

New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is releasing a new resource documenting Iran's violations of its treaty obligations and multilateral agreements. This week Iranian forces fired on and unlawfully seized the Maersk Tigris, a Marshall Islands-flagged and reportedly American-owned commercial vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Four days earlier, Iranian patrol boats aggressively encircled the Maersk Kensington, a U.S.-flagged cargo ship.

 

Given that "the United States has full authority and responsibility for security and defense of the Marshall Islands," the seizure of the vessel has been viewed as both a provocation against the U.S. and as jeopardizing freedom of navigation in an internationally recognized shipping lane vital to global commerce.

 

In addition, according to reports, a United Nations sanctions panel was recently informed that "an Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted firms" is active and operating in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions sanctioning Iran's illicit nuclear program.  

 

Tehran has consistently refused to act as a responsible member of the international community. Its disregard for international norms and principles, as well as for the provisions enshrined in the multilateral treaties to which it is party and signatory, raise serious doubt about the regime's intentions with respect to its commitments and obligations under the terms of any nuclear agreement reached with the P5+1.  

 

UANI's comprehensive resource of Iran's violations of its treaty obligations and multilateral agreements on key matters such as disarmament and weapons of mass destruction, human rights, and governance underscores the Iranian regime's disregard for international law and treaty obligations:

 

Violations

Treaty/Organization

Illicitly developing its nuclear program

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UN Security Council Resolutions

Assisting in the Assad regime's development and use of chemical weapons in Syria

Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)

Seizing the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in the Iran Hostage Crisis (1979-1981), storming the British embassy in Tehran in 2011

Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations

Taking hostages, including the four Americans currently being held in Iran

International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages

Publicly calling for the destruction of Israel

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

Violating the rights of national Arab, Azeri, Baloch and Kurdish communities

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Limiting the Baha'i community's access to education and subjecting them to mass imprisonment and systematic persecution

International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

Codified discrimination against women, whose testimony in court, for example, is worth half that of a man's

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)

Executing more child offenders than any other country in the world

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Violently repressing freedom of speech and assembly, as in the 2009 elections protests

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

Blocking millions of websites and jamming satellites to prevent foreign broadcasts

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

Shutting off ship transponders and smuggling weapons by sea in civilian vessels

International Maritime Organization (IMO)

 

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