Iran calls for the US to be taken to the ICC and ICJ

Question: Who is the guilty party? The one that supplies the tools to do the activity, trains personnel to carry out the work, gives the group the finances to conduct the engagement, gives continuing support and guidance for the task or the one that pulls the trigger? Or is it the one that defends itself?

Iran calls for the US to be taken to the ICC and ICJ

Turkey has shown courage by standing up for humanity and became the seventh country to join the South African genocide case against Israel the Tehran Times reported on the 10th August 2024. The reader should have noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran was not one of the seven. The Times even points out that there are other countries allegedly waiting in the sidelines to join the 'magnificent seven' but again Iran is not one of them. They are also clear to point out that Libya is the only Arab country that is on the list of seven. Iran quickly takes the lead that the other Arab countries are under pressure from the United States not to join.

Utter nonsense. But Iran will use it as propaganda and pressure in the hope that other Arab countries will join.

But, not, Iran. When Iran talks about "it’s time to refer the USA to the ICJ and the ICC, what they really mean is, not them. They want someone else to carry out their dirty work for them. This is just another way of applying pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire and thus save the Iran-backed proxy group of Hamas. Trying to apply pressure on countries to stop supplying weapons and ammunition by claiming that their munitions are being used to carryout genocidal acts against the Palestinians.

Claiming that those countries who supply weapons, ammunition and logistics which could be interpretated at a later date as genocide has made some countries think twice about supplying Israel with military logistics. Iran believes that if the keep applying pressure on countries to stop supplying weapons and ammunition to Israel, then others will follow suit.

By having countries agree to a weapons and ammunition embargo on Israel and their suppliers, sends a message to the world. The reason for sending the United States of America to the ICC and/or the ICJ and allowing for the outcome being in favour that the United States was found guilty of supplying weapons that had been used in a genocide would then make other countries such as the United Kingdom under the new Labour government stop the supply of weaponries to Israel (the supply of armaments to Israel is already under review by the new UK Labour government). Then this would therefore put pressure on the Israelis to agree to a ceasefire because of the lack of ammunition, weapons or parts for armoured vehicles to continue their quest in the dismantling of the Iranian-backed Hamas.

But, the one thing you will not see is Iran taking the lead.

It is also important to highlight that both Israel and the United States have not agreed to become members of the ICC or the ICJ and that both organisations have no way of enforcing the results of the court.

The government of Tehran calls for more Arab states to condemn the Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip. "Arab and indeed more Muslim countries should immediately join the South Africa case at the ICJ."

But where is Iran? They are a Muslim country, why not lead by example and put their foot forward and join the “magnificent seven” that they boast about?

They cannot. Firstly, they do not have too as they have the puppet government of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) to do that for them. Secondly, they know the case will fail and Iran does not want to sign up to be on the losing team.

Its far easier for the Islamic Republic of Iran to have others do the fighting for you either in a court in the Hague or on the streets of the Gaza Strip. That is why Hamas along with their military wing, Izzadin al-Qassam Brigade and the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and their military wing, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade are at war with Israel currently in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas run government in Gaza uses another method to apply pressure on Israel by publishing inflated death and wounded figures in order to apply weight using the media and press to quote and publish those figures that has no outside verification. ?

The Hamas government in Gaza does not distinguish between combatants and no-combatants nor do they distinguish between innocent children and those that Hamas and other groups have indoctrinated since they were infants and taught to fight against the “Israeli occupation.”

Al-Tabieen School

Recently a school was attacked by the Israelis in the Gaza Strip. The death toll varies depending on the open-source outlet that you read. Some say the death toll was 90 others state that deaths were over a hundred. Any casualties and deaths cannot be verified due to the figures coming from the Hamas Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip. Again, no external verification.

Israel claimed that the school was housing Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who were being allowed to operate in the Safe area. The Arab News for the day stated that prior to this attack Israel had targeted four other schools. What the Arab press fail to follow up on apart from those that had been allegedly killed, was why Israel had targeted those areas in the first place.

The Al-Arabiya News report stated: Israel’s army said on the 12th August 2024 that it had killed 31 Palestinian militants in a weekend strike on a Gaza school building that rescuers reported left at least 93 people dead, including 11 children.

Amid global criticism, Israel at first named 19 terrorists that were killed in the terror HQ in the Gaza school and published the names and photographs as evidence of those who were in attendance at the school and were killed.

Later this changed and in a joint statement with Israeli secret services, the army said it had confirmed the “identities of 31 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists” killed in the strike and again provided a list of names and pictures of the militants as evidence.

That same day in the same news outlet they reported: Gaza officials told AFP on Monday that they had identified 75 bodies of Palestinians killed in a weekend strike by Israel on a school building where rescuers reported at least 93 dead. “There are 93 dead in the al-Tabieen school strike, 75 of them have been identified,” Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.

“The others have not yet been identified because some bodies are torn and charred by the bombardment.”

He said the dead included 11 children and six women.

In every report regarding the dead there are always women and children mentioned.

There was no evidence by Mahmoud Bassal to support the claims.

The State of Israel in its war against Iranian backed terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Ansarullah (Houthis) in Yemen, to some extent Iran-backed Iraqi terrorist groups and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah is under the microscope with everything they do. Not so the terrorist groups they are fighting who act with impunity against Israel and the United States along with other allies with the support and backing of Iran.

Israel’s military said it struck a Hamas “command and control centre” that was “embedded” in Al-Tabieen school in the Daraj neighbourhood. “Numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and intelligence information,” a statement said. The military has repeatedly made similar statements after strikes on school shelters. Hamas has previously denied Israeli claims that it uses schools, hospitals and other civilian facilities for military aims. Evidence provided says otherwise.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) disputed the numbers of deaths given out by the Hamas authorities. The IDF said that footage from after the strike showed that there was no major damage to the surrounding school complex. It also said that the missiles “could not have caused the damage that corresponds to the casualty reports of the government media office in Gaza.” Again, photographs were given as evidence.

The Palestinian terrorist groups have changed their tactics recently as they are finding it difficult to use their tunnel network. “Increasingly in recent months Hamas has focused on exploiting school buildings, often where civilians are sheltering inside, to use them as military facilities, command and control centres, for storing weapons, and to execute terrorist attacks,” IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video statement.

The spokesman continued, “Over the last few weeks, our intelligence has been closely monitoring an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility, where approximately two dozen Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants were operating,” Hagari continued. “After we received clear intelligence of the threat posed by these terrorists and in accordance with international humanitarian law, we took numerous steps to mitigate the risk to civilians, including using aerial surveillance prior to the strike and selecting very precise munitions to avoid civilian casualties."

The government of Israeli is aware that their actions are scrutinised under a microscope with the United States stating that no other army in the world undergoes such precis planning in order to ensure that civilian casualties are kept to a minimum.

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s propaganda will state that the cause of so many deaths would be put down to American munitions used in the strike.

United Nations

The United Nations special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese said that, “Israel was carrying out such strikes against Palestinians using “US and European weapons,””

Francesca P. Albanese is an Italian international lawyer and academic. On 1st May 2022, she was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories for a three-year term.

Her appointment generated some controversy due to comments she made criticising the US and Europe during the 2014 Gaza War. Albanese described the United States as "subjugated by the Jewish lobby" and Europe by a "sense of guilt about the Holocaust", arguing that both "condemn the oppressed" in the conflict. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Susan Heller Pinto of the Anti-Defamation League, and Michele Taylor, the American ambassador to the Human Rights Council, suggested the comments were antisemitic in nature. She said that she has never been antisemitic and that her criticism of Israel is related to its occupation of Palestinian territories.

On the 18th October 2022, Albanese recommended in her first report that UN member states develop "a plan to end the Israeli settler-colonial occupation and apartheid regime". The report concluded: "The violations described in the present report expose the nature of the Israeli occupation, that of an intentionally acquisitive, segregationist and repressive regime designed to prevent the realization of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination."

In Albanese reports she fails to point out that the Islamic Republic of Iran in January 2021 passed a bill in the Iranian parliament that wants Israel destroyed by March 2041. The parliamentary bill also declared American forces should also be gone from the region and that successive Iranian governments were ‘obliged’ to continue the contents of the bill in the future.

The war in Gaza is a war instigated and directed by Iran with the battle ground chosen by Hamas. Whenever there is an outcry of Israeli retaliation against Hamas the Iranian propaganda outlets always state that those killed were with ordinance supplied to Israel by the United States. They also claim that the United States is responsible for the deaths of many Palestinians because they supply Israel with the means of killing them.

The United Nations is guided by such special rapporteur’s to make assessments on situations and incidents. Even biased ones.

The supplier of arms to Israel

Although the United States is the largest supplier of arms and ammunition to Israel, Iran seems to omit that Germany and Italy are two other countries that supply a great deal of military hardware to Israel

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) dated March 2024, the US accounted for 69% of Israel's imports of major conventional arms between 2019 and 2023.

Germany is the next biggest arms exporter to Israel, accounting for 30% of imports between 2019 and 2023, according to SIPRI.

In 2023, the European nation's weapons sales to Israel were worth €326.5m ($351m; ￡280m) - a 10-fold increase compared with 2022 - with the majority of those export licences granted after the 7 October attacks.

Italy is the third-biggest arms exporter to Israel, but it accounted for only 0.9% of Israeli imports between 2019 and 2023. They have reportedly included helicopters and naval artillery.

Sales of "arms and munitions" amounted to €13.7m ($14.8m; ￡11.7m) last year, the magazine Altreconomia cited national statistics bureau ISTAT as saying.

In March 2024 Canada and the Netherlands have halted arms shipments to Israel this year over concern they could be used in ways violating international humanitarian law - causing civilian casualties and destruction of residential areas - in Gaza.

Canada joins the Netherlands, Japan, Spain and Belgium in suspending arms sales.

It is important to note, Hamas receives approximately $350 million dollars per year in support from Iran or roughly 93% of their total funding.” The Palestinian militants behind the surprise attack on Israel began planning the assault at least a year ago, with key support from Iranian allies who provided military training and logistical help as well as tens of millions of dollars for weapons, current and former Western and Middle Eastern intelligence officials said on the 9th October 2023.

Why Does Iran not Encourage for Germany and Italy be Taken to Court?

Germany

Germany and Iran have a long history of diplomatic relations. After World War II, official diplomatic ties were established in 1939 when Iran opened its first diplomatic mission office in Bonn. Both countries had maintained formal relations since the end of the 19th century. Germany has an embassy in Tehran, which dates back to 1884, and Iran opened its embassy in Berlin in 1885. During the Qajar era, cultural ties between the German Reich and Iran existed, and German soldiers were involved in training the popular army during the Constitutionalist movement in Guilan. Notably, in 1936, Nazi Germany’s financial mastermind visited Tehran, leading to important commercial agreements. However, recent relations have faced scrutiny due to Iran’s political situation and human rights concerns.

In 2022, Germany exported $1.64 billion worth of goods to Iran.

Italy

The diplomatic relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Italian Republic have a strong history. The relationship dates back to ancient times when the Persian Empire and the Roman Empire were major powers. Despite disruptions (such as the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the end of the Sasanian dynasty), the connection persisted for centuries.

After Italy’s unification by Giuseppe Garibaldi on the 17th March 1861, they signed a friendship agreement and a commercial treaty in 1873. Italy was Iran’s largest trading partner in the European Union in 2017. Even during periods of heightened tensions, Italian officials-maintained communication with Iranian counterparts on soft political issues.

Notably, after the interim nuclear deal in 2013, Italy’s Emma Bonino became the first European foreign minister to visit Tehran. President Hassan Rouhani highlighted Italy’s importance for trade and economic cooperation1.

Italy has signalled renewed interest in engaging with Iran, especially since Mario Draghi’s government came to power. It occupies a unique position among EU capitals, allowing for bold measures regarding Iran post-nuclear deal.

The Islamic republic of Iran desperately needs friends in Europe. More importantly the new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian (inaugurated 28th July 2024) is keen to further relations with the west which will be difficult after the Iranian human tragedy surrounding the death of the Kurdish female, Masha Imani, and that Iran has and is currently supplying weapons to Russia against the Ukraine.

The Iranians are also attempting to split relationships between the United States and Europe in order to achieve much needed sanctions relief. The new president has made it clear that he wants better relations with Europe and to bring down high inflation. Two of his electoral manifesto goals.

Russia, Iran and the War in Ukraine

On 24th February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014. The invasion, the largest conflict in Europe since World War II, has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties.

As of the 2nd July 2024, and since the start of the war in February 2022, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has recorded 30,041 civilian casualties with 10,382 killed, including 579 children, and 19,659 people injured, including 1,285 children.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been supplying drones and missiles to Russia for some time, although Iran disputes this there is very strong evidence to the contrary and Iran is involved. But there is no outcry from the United Nations special rapporteur or other countries that Iran should stop sending missiles and drones. Nor is there any suggestion that Iran be taken to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The Iranian rockets and missiles are used in targeting civilian structures such as schools, children’s hospitals and Ukrainian shopping centres in the hope of wearing the Ukrainian public down. Russia by using such tactics is attempting to hold ceasefire talks with the Ukraine government with Russia being in a strong position to have its demands met. A type of medical warfare in the case of hospitals and medical facilities.

On the 18th October 2020 the arms embargo on the Islamic republic of Iran expired allowing Iran to import foreign military equipment. As of the 18th October 2023 the limits imposed by the United Nations Security Council on Iran’s trade in advanced missiles and uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) expired.

?“Iran would only sell weapons to countries that it is sure “won’t misuse them” and will employ them strictly for defence purposes.” Iran’s defence minister Amir Hatami, in an interview with state television on 18th October 2020 regarding the lifting of the United Nations arms embargo. There is nothing defensive in the war which President Putin is fighting at the moment.

During August 2024 numerous open-source reports were published about Iran who they said was to deliver hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia soon. The Voice of America reported, “Dozens of Russian military personnel are being trained in Iran to use the Fath-360 close-range ballistic missile system, two European intelligence sources told Reuters, adding that they expected the imminent delivery of hundreds of the satellite-guided weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine.”

The Iranian United Nations representative denied any reports that Iran was sending hundreds of missiles to Russia in its fight against the Ukraine.? The representative went on to say, "Legally, Iran has no restrictions or prohibitions on buying or selling conventional weapons. But morally, Iran will avoid transferring any weapons, including missiles, that may be used in the conflict with Ukraine until it ends." There are numerous pieces of evidence stating Iran is wrong.

The Sudanese Conflict

On the 30th July 2024 the African Defence Forum published a report that in the past six months, Iran has supplied the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) with weapons, a strategy some analysts believe is designed to pave the way for an Iranian naval presence on Sudan’s Red Sea coast. Iran has been looking for a naval port in or around the Red Sea for some time. This would be useful in deploying weapons and logistics to the proxies in the Levant.

To date, Sudan has refused the request for an Iranian helicopter carrier on its coast. However, observers believe the SAF may soften that position as its war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) grinds on.

In a Sky News report (15th April 2024), they publish the statistics of the Sudanese war. According to United Nations agencies...

? More than 8.6 million people have been forced out of their homes

? 25 million are in dire need of humanitarian assistance

? 18 million are facing severe hunger, five million of them are at emergency levels

? 3.5 million children under the age of five - every seventh child in Sudan - has acute malnutrition

The war started on the 15th April 2023. Islam is the most common religion in the Sudan. There is no call from the Islamic Republic for an arms embargo against suppliers of weapons to the factions in the Islamic country of the Sudan. That could be because Iranian drones have been used in the conflict. Evidence again of Iranian involvement and disruption in another country.

There is no call from western governments for an arms embargo against Iran for its supply of munitions in the Sudanese war.

Conclusion

The Republic of South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip. They filed the case on the 29th December 2023 with the case being heard on the 11th and 12th January 2024. On the 26th January 2023 the ICJ gave its ruling. The outcome was not what the RSA was hoping for and no genocidal verdict was ruled.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on the 26th May 2024 requested arrest warrants for Hamas Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahin Al-Masri (Deif) and Ismail Haniyeh bore criminal responsibility for murder, hostage taking and extermination. The court also issued warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant stating they had committed crimes against humanity on the State of Palestine. The ICC clearly does not know the difference between responsibility and defence. The Iranian-backed terrorist group leaders are responsible for the war in the Gaza Strip against terrorist groups Hamas and the PIJ. Defence is what Israel is doing.

There is no country or governing body taking Iran to the ICC or the ICJ for supplying weapons and armaments that Russia is using in its illegal war. On the 11th August 2024 Russian forces used a North Korean missile on an air strike against Kyiv which left a father and son dead. No outcry.

Nor is there any country taking Iran to the ICC or the ICJ. The Islamic State of Iran supplies terrorists in the Gaza Strip, Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and supplies anti-shipping weapons to Ansarullah (Houthis) who are targeting commercial shipping in the Bab Al-Mandab and the Red Sea or Iranian drones used in the Sudanese war.

Its clearly not the United States that should be taken before the ICC or the ICJ. That is clearly wrong.

The question the United Nations and other responsible governments should be asking is, “Who is the most disruptive actor in the Middle East? If Iran was to be stopped in its troublemaking actions and its support for terrorist groups then peace would settle in the Middle East.” Until that happens there will always be conflict. The Americans are in place at the request of Arab countries and ensure some form of stability is in place. Iran contradicts that.

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Paul Ashley

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