Guterres's Congratulating Iran on the Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution is an Insult to Those Oppressed and the UN, As is the Iranian Foreign Minister Addressing the UN Human Rights Council: Existing UN Protocol is Perhaps the Real Issue

     Human rights advocates, Iranian opposition to the regime, and many others, including me, were shocked when they heard that UN chief Antonio Guterres congratulated the Iranian president on the anniversary of the extremely authoritarian Islamic Revolution taking power in 1979. He also made reference to Iran’s contributions to the international community. This makes the UN look bad. This seeming support of brutal regimes calls into question his ability to run the world body objectively. This comes just after a time period when Iranian executioners brutally murdered tens of thousands of unarmed protestors. Others were executed later or jailed. It is likely still happening.

     In order for meaningful and effective cooperation among nations to occur, a main goal of the UN, the parties have to be reliable, trustworthy, and abide by basic international norms. Iran is none of those.

     Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is expected to address the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) on Feb. 23. What a farce this is. There are no human rights in Iran. The fact that the UN allows it speaks volumes for the failure of the UN to actually support human rights. It would be much better if they would instead have someone from the severely oppressed Iranian opposition address the HRC, but Iran would never allow it, unless it was someone who had already left the country. The UNHRC is a farce as a whole, and this is just another of many examples.

     Let’s look at what some other critics of Guterres’s congratulatory remarks have said about it, according to a Fox News article:

"The UN Secretary-General’s congratulatory message is not merely diplomatic routine — it is abjectly tone-deaf," said Iran analyst Banafesh Zand. "At a time when the Iranian people continue to endure executions, repression, and systemic abuse at the hands of the Islamic Republic, offering formal congratulations to the architects of that suffering reads as a moral failure."

Zand added that such gestures "erode [the U.N.’s] credibility and deepen the wound for those still fighting for freedom inside Iran."

Andrew Ghalili, policy director at the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), said the message amounted to legitimizing a repressive system.

"The United Nations is legitimizing a regime built on repression, executions and the systematic destruction of basic freedoms," Ghalili said. "Offering celebratory recognition to the Islamic Republic on the anniversary of its revolution ignores the bloodshed, the repression of protesters and the ongoing hostage-taking of innocent people."

     While a UN spokesperson called the letter a long-standing UN protocol, it certainly calls into question why such a protocol should even exist. Questions about allowing the Iranian Foreign Minister to address the Human Rights Council were answered by stating that, since the HRC is a membership-based organization, any member has a right to address it. Perhaps the issue is not really Guterres but the way the UN is organized. We need the UN, but we don’t need it to be farcical, hypocritical, and supportive of brutal regimes.

 

References:

 

UN chief blasted as ‘abjectly tone-deaf’ over message to Iran marking revolution anniversary. Efrat Lachter. Fox News. February 11, 2026. UN chief blasted as ‘abjectly tone-deaf’ over message to Iran marking revolution anniversary

Iran security forces 'raid hospitals to execute injured protesters'. Matt Davies. The Daily Express. February 11, 2026. Iran security forces 'raid hospitals to execute injured protesters'