TEHRAN -- Iran’s top human rights official says t2he Islamic Republic will not leave any safe haven for the terror groups, which have the backing of the West and Israel, across the world and will stand firm in confronting them.
“There are more than 17,000 victims of terrorist attacks; the terrorist groups are set up with the support of the U.S., some Western countries and Israel, and are based in the U.S. or Europe,” Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, told a conference for reviewing legal aspects of the United States’ crimes against Iranians.
“Iran is on the lookout for these terrorists around the world and there will be no safe place for them anywhere. Iran stands firm in confronting them,” he added.
He also cited the Unite States unilateral sanctions against 30 countries, with Iran topping the list, saying that the bans violate international law and human rights.
Due to the sanctions blocking access to life-saving medical supplies and drugs in Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic, several Iranians lost their lives, he said.
Gharibabadi described the U.S. as the “prime culprit” in several losses of innocent lives in Iran due to the sanctions-hit country’s lack of access to life-saving medical supplies.
The right official said if the U.S. wishes to stand up for the Iranians’ rights, it should remove the sanctions.
“Tens of Iranians were arrested in the U.S. on charges allegedly related to schemes to evade the sanctions and are imprisoned, we ask for the freedom of these innocent people,” he added.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Gharibabadi described the assassination of the top Iranian anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani as a “stain of shame” for the US and a “great crime.”
“All those who were involved in this crime must be tried and Iraq’s judicial system should take on its responsibility in this regard,” he added.
General Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), were assassinated along with their associates in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.
The strike was authorized by the U.S. president.