AhlulBayt News Agency: Iran’s acting defense minister has sent a message to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, saying the bloc can play an effective role in the region and the world within the framework of a common collective security concept.
The message was delivered by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Brigadier General Reza Talaei Nik at a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) defense ministers in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
“As you are aware, the Islamic Republic of Iran, as a member and part of the Shanghai geography, has been targeted by unlawful attacks and aggression by the United States and the Zionist regime on two occasions in less than a year – in June 2025 and February 2026 – aggression that has plunged West Asia into insecurity and crisis,” read part of the message.
The message said the aggression constitutes a clear violation of the principle prohibiting the use of force enshrined in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, as well as Chapter VI on peaceful dispute settlement, and the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
“Beyond being a breach of international humanitarian law, it is considered a war crime and state terrorism, and besides its devastating consequences for regional peace and security, it has challenged our collective efforts to achieve lasting peace,” the message added.
Iran, exercising its inherent right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, has taken “decisive and proportionate measures” to defend its security, national sovereignty, and territorial integrity based on the principles of proportionality, distinction, and precaution, the statement said.
It stressed that US military bases in neighboring countries played a significant role in enabling and supporting the aggression. “Regrettably, those countries failed, contrary to their pre-war pledges not to allow third parties to violate Iran’s territorial integrity, to prevent the use of those bases against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Therefore, the aforementioned bases became legitimate targets for the Islamic Republic of Iran’s armed forces,” the message read.
The acting minister said the world today “is too complex to resolve issues with the language of threats and force,” citing recent US statements on other country’s natural resources, erasing nations’ civilizations, renaming geographical sites, claiming ownership over other countries’ territories, and changing legal systems in Venezuela and Cuba.
He also voiced Iran’s full readiness to actively participate in all SCO initiatives aimed at strengthening collective security and confronting common threats, particularly the fight against terrorism, extremism, and separatism.
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