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STORY: UN / IRAN IRAVANI PRESS ENCOUNTER
TRT: 03:38
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 02 MARCH 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, the United Nations headquarters
02 MARCH 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Iranian ambassador approaching the microphone at the stakeout area
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Amir Saeid Iravani, Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Iran:
“On 28th February 2026, the United States, in full coordination with Israel, launched a second deliberate and unprovoked military attack against the Islamic Republic of Iran. This was a calculated act of aggression. Major cities and densely populated civilian areas were targeted. Hundreds of innocent civilians lost their lives. Many more were wounded.”
26 FEBRUARY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
4. Med shot, camera operator
02 MARCH 2026, NEW YORK CITY
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Amir Saeid Iravani, Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Iran:
“In a reckless and unprecedented escalation, the United States and Israel deliberately targeted the Supreme Leader of Islamic Republic of Iran and many high military officials. Targeting the highest official of a sovereign UN member state is an egregious breach of international law and a direct attack on sovereign equality. Such conduct endangers the entire international system.”
26 FEBRUARY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
6. Med shot, camera operator
02 MARCH 2026, NEW YORK CITY
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Amir Saeid Iravani, Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Iran:
"The United States and the Israeli regime are deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. Schools, hospitals, lecturers, facilities and residential buildings were attacked. On the first day of aggression the girls, a school in Minab, a small town in Hormozgan Province in southern Iran, was deliberately destroyed. As a result, 165 innocent schoolgirls were martyred. I repeat it 165 schoolgirls martyred. Their bodies were recovered from the rubble after hours of rescue efforts."
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
8. Med shot, camera operator
02 MARCH 2026, NEW YORK CITY
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Amir Saeid Iravani, Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Iran:
"The United Nations cannot remain silent. Accountability is not optional. It is deeply shameful and hypocritical that on the very first day of its Presidency of the Security Council the United States convened a high level meeting on protecting children, technology and education in armed conflict under the agenda item Maintenance of International Peace and Security, while at the same time launching missiles strike against Iranian cities and bombing schools and killing children."
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
10. Med shot, camera operator
02 MARCH 2026, NEW YORK CITY
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Amir Saeid Iravani, Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Iran:
"Iran does not seek war. Iran does not seek escalation, but Iran will not surrender its sovereignty. The issue before the international community is clear. Can a powerful state attack another sovereign member of the United Nations with impunity? If the answer is yes, then the Charter is meaningless. If the answer is no, then this aggression must be condemned and stopped. Double standard will destroy the credibility of this Council. Silence will embolden further lawlessness. As long as aggression continues, Iran will defend itself decisively and without hesitation."
12. Wide shot, Iranian ambassador leaving the microphone at the stakeout area
“It is deeply shameful and hypocritical that on the very first day of its Presidency of the Security Council the United States convened a high level meeting on protecting children, technology and education in armed conflict under the agenda item Maintenance of International Peace and Security, while at the same time launching missiles strike against Iranian cities and bombing schools and killing children,” Iran's United Nations ambassador said.
Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, addressed correspondents at the UN stakeout in New York today (2 Mar), condemning what he described as a second round of military strikes against his country. "On 28th February 2026, the United States, in full coordination with Israel, launched a second deliberate and unprovoked military attack against the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said. "This was a calculated act of aggression. Major cities and densely populated civilian areas were targeted. Hundreds of innocent civilians lost their lives. Many more were wounded."
Iravani said the strikes extended to the highest levels of Iran's leadership. "The United States and Israel deliberately targeted the Supreme Leader of Islamic Republic of Iran and many high military officials," he said, calling the targeting of a sitting head of state "an egregious breach of international law and a direct attack on sovereign equality" that he warned "endangers the entire international system."
The ambassador detailed what he said were attacks on civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and residential buildings. He cited the destruction of a girls' school in Minab, a town in Iran's southern Hormozgan Province, on the first day of the strikes. "165 innocent schoolgirls were martyred," he said. "Their bodies were recovered from the rubble after hours of rescue efforts."
Calling on the international community to act, Iravani warned that inaction carried consequences beyond the current conflict. "Can a powerful state attack another sovereign member of the United Nations with impunity? If the answer is yes, then the Charter is meaningless," he said. "Double standard will destroy the credibility of this Council. Silence will embolden further lawlessness."
Iran, he said, was not seeking to widen the conflict. "Iran does not seek war. Iran does not seek escalation, but Iran will not surrender its sovereignty," Iravani said. "As long as aggression continues, Iran will defend itself decisively and without hesitation."
