UNITED
NATIONS

S
Security Council
Distr.
GENERAL
S/1999/781
12 July 1999
ORIGINAL:

ENGLISH

LETTER DATED 12 JULY 1999 FROM THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE
OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN TO THE UNITED NATIONS
ADDRESSED TO THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

Upon instructions from my Government and with reference to the letter dated
12 June 1999 from the Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations
transmitting a letter of the same date from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of
Iraq addressed to you (S/1999/673), I have the honour to bring the following to
your attention:
The Foreign Minister of Iraq, in the above-mentioned letter, explicitly and
unambiguously admits that a well-known and internationally recognized terrorist
organization maintains its camps in the territory of Iraq, where it receives
substantial material, military, political and logistical support from the
Government of Iraq. It is a well-established fact that this organization has
been responsible for many blind terrorist attacks and activities which were
planned, nurtured and carried out from the territory of Iraq against Iran,
resulting in the killing and wounding of hundreds of innocent Iranian citizens
and officials. As a matter of fact, this terrorist organization has, on many
occasions, publicly and proudly claimed responsibility for those terrorist
attacks and activities inside and outside Iran. Obviously, these criminal and
unlawful operations could never take place without the collaboration and full
support of the Iraqi regime. It may be recalled that the details of such
transboundary terrorist activities have regularly been reported to the United
Nations and published as documents of the Organization.
The Government of Iraq, by providing sanctuary and unhesitating support to
this terrorist organization, violates its obligations under the basic principles
of international law and disregards the continuous call by the United Nations to
further strengthen cooperation between States in order to prevent, combat and
eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Iraqi-sponsored
terrorism runs counter to the principle of "good-neighbourly relations" which it
claims to follow. Moreover, the Government of Iraq, by nurturing, financing and
instigating terrorists against the Islamic Republic of Iran, defies several
General Assembly resolutions, in particular paragraph 5 (a) of the Declaration
on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism (annexed to General Assembly
resolution 49/60), which, inter alia, calls upon the States Members of the
United Nations:

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To refrain from organizing, instigating, facilitating, financing,
encouraging or tolerating terrorist activities and to take appropriate
practical measures to ensure that their respective territories are not used
for terrorist installations or training camps, or for the preparation or
organization of terrorist acts intended to be committed against other
States or their citizens.
I wish to emphasize, once more, that the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns
all acts, methods and practices of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable,
wherever and by whomever committed. Moreover, Iran, as a vivid victim of
terrorism, remains devoted to cooperating fully with other nations, particularly
with its neighbours, towards the elimination of terrorism and that under no
circumstances will it condone or tolerate this menace of the century,
irrespective of its culprits and their motives. In this context, it must be
stressed, however, that Iran remains determined to take action against
terrorists in order to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity, national
security and the safety of its citizens. It needs to be clarified that the
proportionate actions by Iran, against terrorist bases and targets in Iraq which
have been used to train terrorists and generate terrorism against Iran, have
been taken in a discriminate manner and in exercise of the inherent right of
self-defence as set out in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.
Accordingly, such actions, taken in response to numerous terrorist attacks
against Iranian people and officials, are in line with the pronounced policy of
the Islamic Republic of Iran which has been previously brought to the attention
of the Secretary-General and the Security Council (see for instance S/25843 of
26 May 1993, S/1994/983 of 21 August 1994, S/1994/1145 of 10 October 1994,
S/1996/602 of 29 July 1996 and S/1999/536 of 11 May 1999.
In pursuance of this policy and in the exercise of its right of selfdefence under Article 51 of the Charter, the concerned authorities of the
Islamic Republic of Iran targeted a well-known active terrorist camp, located in
the territory of Iraq, on 10 June 1999. This proportionate action was a
necessary defensive measure against the perpetrators of the terrorist crimes
that had already been carried out against Iran and its citizens. It also aimed
to prevent further recurrence of similar terrorist operations which were being
planned and organized at the very same terrorist installations inside Iraq. As
stated in the past, Iran holds the Iraqi regime fully responsible for the
consequences of any terrorist acts and operations which are planned and nurtured
in Iraq and directed against Iranian citizens and territory. Moreover, Iran
categorically denies its involvement in any other incident referred to in the
above-mentioned letter of the Foreign Minister of Iraq.
The Islamic Republic of Iran would like, once again, to underscore that it
remains fully committed to respecting the sovereignty and the territorial
integrity of Iraq, that the above-mentioned action has been taken only against
terrorists and that Iran is ready to take further steps towards normalization of
relations between the two States. However, Iran believes that Iraq’s unabated
support and assistance to terrorists is not conducive to the improvement of
bilateral relations and contradicts its claim that "sincere efforts being made
by Iraq to establish good-neighbourly relations". Indeed, the policies and
practices of the Iraqi regime in the region, which have gravely undermined
regional peace and security during the past two decades, can by no means be
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interpreted as Iraq’s "sincere efforts" to establish good-neighbourly relations
with its neighbours. Without doubt, Iraqi-sponsored terrorism is a serious
threat to peace and security in the region and defies the statement of heads of
State and Government at the Security Council summit, in which they expressed
"their deep concern over acts of international terrorism" and emphasized "the
need for the international community to deal effectively with all such acts".
I should be grateful if you would have the present letter circulated as a
document of the Security Council.

(Signed)

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Hadi NEJAD-HOSSEINIAN
Ambassador
Permanent Representative