TEHRAN – In a letter to the editor of the Washington Post published on the website of the newspaper on Friday, the head of the press office for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said that a U.S. attack on Syria would harm the value of the UN. 

 

Following is the text of the letter by Alireza Miryousefi: 

 

Regarding Dennis Ross’s Sept. 9 op-ed, “Blocking action on Syria makes an attack on Iran more likely”:

 

Article 2 of the UN Charter prohibits all member states “from the threat or use of force against” any other member states, reflecting the norms of the post-World War II global order. In the current debates regarding the authorization of military intervention against Syria, there is understandably great skepticism of both the legitimacy and legality of such a disastrous course of action. There is evidence that chemical weapons have been smuggled to the Syrian rebels, as communicated to the United States through a Swiss channel by Iran’s foreign ministry nine months ago. The American public has not been convinced of the legality of an attack on Syria, which has been also questioned by UN officials.

 

With respect to Iran and the region, a U.S. attack on Syria will not contribute to the new Iranian government’s search for a win-win solution in multilateral talks, adversely affecting the efforts to heal the old wounds with certain foreign governments. From Iran’s vantage point, such military adventurism will send a clear message to the rest of the world that we still live in a pre-modern era and all the crowning achievements of the UN Charter and modern and civilized values are irrelevant.

 

AM/PA

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