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Iran Refuses to Recognize Israel at U.N.

U.N. member states unfazed

Iran refused to recognize Israel in the United Nations
Iranians burning Israeli and American flags in 2012 / AP
December 6, 2013

Iran publicly refused to recognize "the Israeli regime" during a full meeting on Thursday of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The move appeared to stun not a single onlooker at the United Nations, but prompted a sharp response from Israel’s ambassador to the U.N.

During the opening moments of the 68th UNGA’s 60th plenary meeting, Iran’s representative took the floor to reiterate her country’s distaste for the Jewish state.

The UNGA meeting was held to mark a procedural—and typically uneventful—vote in which nations meet to approve the credentials of various U.N. member states.

While Iran, like every other nation, voted in favor of the measure, its representative sought to explain that its support should not be interpreted as recognition of Israel.

"We would like to reiterate my government’s position that our support for this document should be in no way be considered as the recognition of the Israeli regime," Iran’s representative said. "I wish my statement in this regard to be recorded and registered in the final recording of this meeting."

Iran was the only member state to offer an on-the-record statement regarding the vote.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Ron Prosor said that the shot at Israel is a sign of the regime’s rogue nature.

"The ink is barely dry on the interim nuclear agreement signed in Geneva and Iran has already shown its true colors," Prosor said in a statement provided to the Washington Free Beacon. "This is a regime that crosses red lines, produces yellow cake, and beats its citizens black and blue."

Iran, which is a member of the U.N. nuclear disarmament committee, has increased its militaristic rhetoric towards American and Israel in the weeks since it signed a draft interim agreement to temporarily halt its nuclear program sometime in the future.

Iran’s top religious clerics insist that Iran’s "resistance" frightened the Obama administration into inking a deal that mostly benefits Tehran.

"If any success has been achieved in the talks with [the world powers], it is due to the resistance of the Iranian nation," leading cleric Ayatollah Seyed Ahmad Khatami was quoted as saying on Friday by Iran’s state-run media.

The "U.S. says if Iranians would violate the nuclear deal, sanctions will be re-imposed, but we say if the U.S. would breach it, it would be both our religious duty and our legal right to return to pre-deal status," Khatami reportedly said.

One of Iran’s chief goals at the United Nations is to force Israel into signing the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Iran remains in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding its own nuclear weapons work and its efforts to hide evidence of the program from international inspectors.