Written Statementof the Covernmentof the
lslamicRepublicof Iran The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is pleased
to see that the question of the legality of the use of nuclear
weapons is brought before the court. Our initial observationson
this question are as follow:
a. Paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the UN Charter stipulates that
ail member States of UN shall refrain from use of force against
the territorial integrity or political independence of each
other. It is thereforeonly logical to conclude that the use of
offensive weapons, especially weapons of mass destructionand in
particular nuclearweapons, is prohibited since nuclear weapons
is a threat to the existence and civilization of mankind in a
large scale and indiscriminatemarner.
b. Although legitimate defense is one of the fumdamental
principals ofinternationallaw, humanitarianinternationallaw
imposes certain restrictionon the conduct of States in times of
conflict. Some of those restrictions are clearly stipulated in,
the humanitarianinternationallaw. The Hague regulationson laws
and customs of war on land amexed to Convention IV of 1907
clearly stipulatesin article 22 that "Therights of belligerents
to adopt means of injuring-theenemy is not unlimited" .Paragraph
1 of article 35 of the protocol 1 of 1977 annexed to the four
Geneva ConventionStates Inany armed conflictthe right of the
parties to the conflict tochoose methods or means of warfare is
not unlimited".
we can thereforeconclude that the non-existenceof a legal
instrument onprohibition of certain types of weapons does not
mean that the States have an absolute'right to use them. We can
also argue that noms, rules and general principles that have
been adopted in the humanitarian internationallaw with a view
to prohibitingand limiting the use of some special conventional
weapons may be also effectivelyextendedto nuclearweapons. Some
of the principlesthat one can deduce the illegitimacyof nuclear
weapons are as follow:
- prohibition of means and methods of war that cause
unnecessary suffering to human societies and environment;
- Distinguishingbetween military and civilian targets;
- Prohibition of the use of instruments that cause
indiscriminate effects, includingarms and methods that are used
suddenlyand ecpallyagainst both military and civilian targets; - The existenceof proportionality between military advantages
gained and the used weapons and methods.
AS the result of globsl efforts, a number of legal
instruments were created during the Cold War which limit the use
of nuclear weapons in certainplaces, these are:
- The btarctic Treaty of 1959 which-prohibitsnuclearweapons
explosionand testingin the Antarctica;
- The Treaty Ba~ing Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere,
in Outer Space, and Under Water (1983):
- The Treaty on PrinciplesGoverningthe Activities of States
in the Explorationand Use of Outer Space including the Moon and
other CelestialBodies (1967):
- ~reaty on the Non-proliferation of NuclearWeapons (1968);
c- From the rules of international lawrelating to the
environment,theprohibitionof theuse of such weapons , because
of its huge destructiveeffects, can be concluded.
Article 35 of the Protocol 1 annexed to the Four Geneva
Conventionsprohibits the use of methodsand means of warfare
which are indeed,or may be expected to cause widespread,long
termand severedamageto thenatural environment. No doubt, this
prohibition applies to nuclear weapons for their enormous
destructiveand longterm effecton the environment.
In additionto article 54 and 56 of the said Protocolwhich
place certain obligationson the belligerentparties for the
protection of the-environment, mention can also be made of
Article 23 of the-FourthHague Conventionof 1907 and article 52
of the fourthGeneva Convention.
- -
Furthemore, Article 1 of the fifth HagueConventionof 1907
on Rights and Duties of neutral Stateson Land Warfare states
that "The territoryof the neutral powers is inviolable".The
belligerentstates havean obligationnot only to abstain from
directly aggressingand attacking neutral states, but also to
refrain from using,methods and instruments that threaten indirectlylife and environmentof third states.It is clear that
the effectsof the use of nuclear weapons are not confined to the
national boundariesof belligerent states and have far-reaching
effect thatcan impacthumanlife and environmentof third states.
D) Some of UN General Assembly Resolutiondeclares the widely
held believes of the member stateson the illegitimacyof the use
of nuclear weapons.
Some of these rosolutionsare:
Resolution 1633 (XVI) of the General Assembly-under the
title: The declarationon the Prohibitionof the Use of Nuclear
and Themonuclear Weapons;
..
Resolution 2936 (XXVII)of 29 Nov. 1972 concerning Non-Use
of Force in InternationalRelationsand permanentProhibitionof
Nuclear Weapons.
Taking into consideration theend of Cold War and the new
developmentsin the internationalrelations,
the IslamicRepublic
of Iran believes that the International Court of Justice is in
a becter position now to rsspond to Che international public
conscienceand pass a judgement on the illegalityof the use of
nuclear weapons.
Written Statement of the Government of Islamic Republic of Iran