Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivered a powerful and uncompromising speech on Sunday, condemning the United States for fueling global instability, violating international law, and pushing the world toward an unprecedented arms race.

Speaking at the international conference “International Law Under Attack: Aggression and Defense” in Tehran, Araghchi said the United States has abandoned any pretense of lawful behavior, replacing diplomacy with brute force and hegemonic ambitions.

Araghchi emphasized that former US President Donald Trump’s slogan of “peace through strength” was nothing more than a mask for American domination.

He explained that Washington’s policies — from renaming the Secretary of Defense to the “Secretary of War” to reviving nuclear weapons testing — reflect a return to the “law of the jungle,” where the powerful impose their will without accountability.

“A president who claims to be a champion of peace has attacked nations at will, demanded the evacuation of cities, violated every international commitment, and destroyed global norms with impunity,” he said.

Araghchi warned that the world’s soaring military budgets are a direct consequence of America’s destructive behavior.

“In the jungle the US has created, there is no law. To defend oneself, one has no choice but to be strong,” he said, underscoring why many nations — including Iran — are compelled to build robust defenses.

The Iranian foreign minister condemned Israel as a dangerous extension of American power in the region, describing it as a regime emboldened by Western immunity and armed with billions in NATO-backed weapons.

He stated plainly that Israel has committed — and continues to commit — “genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and systematic violations of the most basic principles of humanity,” all under the political and military protection granted by the US and several European states.

Araghchi added that no country in West Asia is safe from Israel’s expansionist agenda, noting that the regime has attacked seven countries in just two years, while continuing its illegal occupation of Palestinian land and seeking new territorial gains.

Referencing the illegal Israeli-US assault on Iran in June, Araghchi revealed that the attack was deliberately launched two days before the sixth round of Iran-US nuclear talks in Muscat, with the explicit aim of sabotaging peaceful negotiations.

“When the Israeli regime attacked Iran on June 13 under the direction of the US President, the first bombs were fired at the negotiating table itself,” he said. “Diplomacy was the first victim of the 12-day war.”

Araghchi stressed that the aggression — including the martyrdom of Iranian civilians, the assassination of commanders inside their own homes, and the targeting of peaceful nuclear facilities — represents a flagrant violation of international law, the UN Charter, and global non-proliferation agreements.

He warned that such actions amount to an all-out assault on the international order, threatening regional stability and undermining the core principles meant to govern relations between nations. (ILKHA)