By Emma Farge
GENEVA, March 25 (Reuters) – Gulf Arab states told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Wednesday they face an existential threat from Iran as they condemned Iranian attacks on their infrastructure, which the U.N. rights chief said might constitute war crimes.
The nearly month-long U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has sparked large-scale Iranian retaliation in the form of drone and missile strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries, killing civilians and driving up oil prices.
“We are seeing an existential threat to international and regional security. This aggressive approach is undermining international law and sovereignty,” Kuwait’s ambassador Naser Abdullah H. M. Alhayen told the Geneva-based council. Other Gulf states also denounced Iran’s actions which they said were designed to spread terror.
Countries at the 47-member council will vote on a motion condemning Iran’s strikes, asking Iran for reparation and asking the U.N. rights chief to monitor the situation.
Iran defended its actions, saying more than 1,500 civilians had been killed in the U.S.-Israeli strikes so far. “We fight on behalf of all of you against an enemy that, if not restrained today, will be beyond containment tomorrow,” said Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Ali Bahreini, referring to Israel.
Iran has called for its own emergency session on a fatal strike on a primary school which will take place on Friday.
The United Nations’ top rights official Volker Turk on Wednesday urged states to end the Iran conflict, describing the situation as extremely dangerous and unpredictable.
“This conflict has an unprecedented power to ensnare countries across borders and around the world,” he said.
“Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure must end. If they are deliberate, such attacks may constitute war crimes.”
(Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by Miranda Murray, William Maclean)
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