TEHRAN — Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, says the United States must end its illegal occupation of Syria and stop shielding the terrorists under the guise of fighting terrorism.

“Sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria must be fully respected by all, and accordingly, all foreign forces whose presence is not permitted by the Syrian government must leave the Syrian territory,” Takht-Ravanchi said on Monday, according to IRNA.

He made the remarks in an address to a virtual meeting of the UN Security Council, called “Middle East: Syria – Political”.

The following is the transcript of his speech:

I reiterate our longstanding position that the Syrian crisis must be settled through political means.

In this context, we extend our support to the work of the Constitutional Committee, as has been expressed by the Astana Format meetings on numerous occasions.

While the Committee should be supported to do its work, as a matter of principle, any and all forms of external pressure must be avoided by all, as stipulated in its rules of procedure.

At the same time, any possible assistance to the Committee, even by the United Nations, must be extended only at the request of the Committee itself in accordance with its ROP.

As a principled position, which also has been repeatedly reaffirmed by the Astana Format Summits, we continue to reject any separatist agendas as well as any and all attempts to create new realities on the ground, including through illegitimate self-rule initiatives.

Sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria must be fully respected by all, and accordingly, all foreign forces whose presence is not permitted by the Syrian government must leave the Syrian territory. In this regard, the living example is the occupation of certain parts of Syria by the U.S. forces who continue to support and shield terrorist groups under the mask of combatting terrorism.

Similarly, Israel’s aggressions against Syria are in gross violation of international law and the UN Charter, in the face of which, the Syrian government has a sovereign right to decide how and when to exercise its inherent right to individual or collective self-defense. Such aggressions must come to an end.

We also stress that the occupation of the Syrian Occupied Golan by Israel is illegal, and the recognition by the U.S. of its annexation to Israel is null and void. Condemning such unlawful irresponsible act, we stress that Golan is and will remain a part and parcel of the Syrian territory.

Finally, the right to determine the future of Syria belongs exclusively to Syrians and the international community should assist them to realize this right.

MH/PA