ABNA24 - Iran has formally lodged a complaint with the United Nations over a deliberate US attack on two Iranian maritime search-and-rescue vessels, saying the incident constituted “a grave and manifest violation of international humanitarian law” and amounts to a “war crime.”
Gholamhossein Darzi, Iran's deputy permanent representative to the UN, issued the complaint in a letter dated Friday to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the president of the UN Security Council, International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, and the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The diplomat said the United States attacked the vessels Naji (Rescuer)-15 and Naji-16 in the early hours of Thursday, while they were operating in Iran's territorial waters in Hormozgan Province. According to the letter, the vessels were engaged exclusively in humanitarian search-and-rescue missions and sustained significant damage in the attack.
“The deliberate targeting of vessels exclusively assigned to maritime search-and-rescue operations constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the international law of the sea,” Darzi wrote, adding that the vessels' “sole mission is to save the lives of persons in distress at sea.”
He further stated that the vessels “were not engaged in any military activity or direct participation in hostilities at the time of the attack,” adding that “their deliberate targeting, therefore, constitutes a serious and manifest violation of international humanitarian law and amounts to a war crime.”
Referring to Article 27 of the 1949 Second Geneva Convention, Darzi said vessels employed for maritime rescue operations are entitled to special protection under international law.
The official also described the incident as part of a broader pattern, stating that since “the commencement of the military aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran on February 28, 2026," Iranian search-and-rescue vessels and marine ambulances engaged in humanitarian missions “have repeatedly been targeted.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran unequivocally condemns this appalling war crime and holds the United States fully responsible for all consequences arising from this unlawful act,” the letter said.
It also reaffirmed that Iran would continue providing maritime search-and-rescue services “safely, continuously, and without discrimination to all persons in distress at sea.”
Darzi called on the UN Security Council to condemn the grave violation, ensure accountability for those responsible, and adopt measures to prevent further attacks on humanitarian maritime assets.
The United States has perpetrated numerous violations against Iranian territory since April 7, when US President Donald Trump announced a unilateral ceasefire in the latest bout of wholesale American-Israeli aggression targeting the Islamic Republic.
The violations continued even after Washington and Tehran signed a Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding last month, whose first clause clearly mandates cessation of aggression on all fronts.
The US has also been trying to help vessels evade the maritime route designated by the Islamic Republic for safe and legal passage through the Strait of Hormuz by seeking to escort trespassing vessels through an illegal passageway.
Iran's Armed Forces have staged uncompromising retaliation in the face of each instance of violation, including those taking place in support of illegal vessel movement in the Strait of Hormuz.
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