US-Israel attack ‘flagrant’ breach of UN Charter, not merely ‘unnecessary war’, Iran tells Germany

Iran has lashed out at German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for downplaying the unlawful attacks by the United States and the Israeli regime against the Islamic Republic as merely an “unnecessary war”, saying they were a “blatant” act of aggression against a sovereign state.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei made the comment in a post on his X account on Friday after the German president on Thursday described the illegal joint military aggression by the US and Israel on Iran as a “truly avoidable, unnecessary war.”

“The American-Israeli attack on Iran cannot be downplayed or reframed as merely an ‘unnecessary war.’ It was a flagrant violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter — a blatant act of aggression against a sovereign State,” Baghaei said.

He added that the US-Israel imposed war on Iran “could and should have been avoided”.

“The UN Charter does not recognize any notion of a ‘necessary war’ that would grant States the right to use force against another sovereign nation based on the arbitrary & whimsical decisions of aggressors,” he emphasized.

He urged any nation that values ​​the rule of law and the UN Charter to “unequivocally” condemn the US-Israel act of aggression and to call for accountability.

The Iranian spokesperson also confirmed the German president’s remarks regarding the current escalation and instability in the West Asian region following the unilateral destruction by the Trump administration of the 2015 nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“It is true that the current crisis confronting our region and the world stems directly from the United States’ unlawful and capricious withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018,” Baghaei wrote.

Steinmeier directly addressed the JCPOA, stating it would have been better if that agreement had been preserved, and emphasized: “If the 2015 agreement with Iran had been preserved, it would have been possible to prevent the consequences we are currently witnessing.”

Steinmeier, who was personally involved in negotiating the JCPOA as foreign minister, bluntly called the war “a politically disastrous mistake” and a “politically fatal error.”

By openly admitting the US-Israel war against Iran was avoidable and that preserving the JCPOA could have prevented today’s crisis, the German head of state has effectively validated Tehran’s consistent position. Iran says that diplomacy and respect for its sovereign rights, not sanctions and bombs, are the path to regional peace and security.

The German president’s candid intervention is further evidence of the growing international isolation of the aggressors.

The criminal US-Israeli aggression against Iran began on February 28 with airstrikes that assassinated senior Iranian officials and commanders, including Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Iranian Armed Forces responded by launching daily missile and drone operations targeting locations in the Israeli-occupied territories as well as US military bases and assets across the region.

On April 8, forty days into the war, a Pakistan-brokered temporary ceasefire between Iran and the US took effect.