ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iran has sent an official letter to the UN calling on the organization to reject Israel and the United States’ claim of self-defense and condemn their attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

In a letter to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the head of the Security Council carried by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) affiliated media on Thursday, Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Saeed Iravani asserts that “the US claim of self-defense lacks any legal basis,” adding that attacking Iran’s “peaceful nuclear facilities under the supervision of the agency is a clear violation of the UN charter and international law.”

Iran’s letter urged that the “claim of self-defense by the US and Israel should be explicitly rejected,” the attacks on “Iran’s nuclear facilities” should be condemned, and that Secretary General Guterres should “submit a report on the implementation of Resolution 487 and its violations.”

The UN Security Council's Resolution 487 saw the body condemn an attack by Israel on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, with Israel deeming former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's burgeoning nuclear program to be an existential threat, drawing parallels to current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firm resistance to Iranian nuclear proliferation efforts.

The resolution passed unanimously, with all fifteen Security Council members, including the US, voting in favor. 

“According to UN and [International Atomic Energy Agency] IAEA resolutions, any attack or threat against peaceful nuclear sites is a serious violation of international law and a threat to global security,” the Iranian letter emphasized.

Iran has maintained that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only and that they have no intentions of building a nuclear weapon; these reassurances, however, have done little to curb the anxiety of Israel and its Western allies. Iran has time and again cited its right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.

Tensions between Israel and Iran came to a boiling point on June 13 when Israel carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and top military officials, marking the beginning of a 12-day-long exchange of fire that saw the US' involvement, who struck the Iranian underground Fordow facility before brokering a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.