Tehran – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragut vehemently condemned Israel’s ongoing military war against Gaza, describing it as both a genocide and a direct attack on human civilization.
On Monday evening at the high-level meeting of the Forum of Ancient Civilizations in New York, held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Aragucci outlined Iran’s position on the important role of ancient culture in promoting world peace and security.
He said the war with Gaza was “not just a political conflict, but an onslaught that destroys civilization,” and that the systematic destruction of Palestinian universities, libraries, museums, mosques and churches amounted to war crimes on par with genocide.
“The intentional targeting of cultural and religious sites, a repository of Palestinian identity, is a crime designed to erase the entire country along with its history and future,” declared Araguchi. He added that mass murder of civilians, systemic hunger and leveling of towns are crimes against all values supported by ancient civilizations, including compassion, justice and human dignity.
The Iranian foreign minister said silence in the face of such atrocities was unacceptable. “We cannot remain indifferent to the disappearance of the nation and the civilized values that the Palestinians represent.
The Minister warned that the destruction of Gaza’s cultural and historical institutions could have irreversible consequences for global civilizations as a whole. “It’s not just the Palestinian country where universities and libraries are returned to tile rubs, the entire human family loses its chapter of its collective memory,” he said.
He pointed out that the UNESCO treaty requires protection of cultural heritage in conflict and accused Israel of severely violating those commitments. “The international community cannot be indifferent when binding obligations are trampled under exemption,” Araguchi said.
He further argued that Israel’s actions were not unisolated, but rather part of a systematic pattern of erasing cultural identity across the occupying territories. “Ancient sites targeting and artifact looting are designed to produce historical amnesia,” he says, calling for a stronger multilateral framework to prevent human trafficking of cultural property from conflict zones.
Araguchi also urged civil society, academics and international organizations to document crimes against cultural heritage to ensure accountability in future judicial procedures. “There must be no immunity for crimes against civilization,” he emphasized.
The Israeli war of massacre began on October 7, 2023 after Palestinian resistance fighters flooded Al-Aqsa against occupation groups in response to a decades-long campaign of death and destruction against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The bloody onslaught of the Israeli regime on the besieged strip has killed more than 65,344 Palestinians, mostly women and children so far.
Araguchi also linked Israel’s actions in Gaza to a wider violation of international law, citing the joint Israeli-US attack on Iran in June 2025 as a “significant violation of the UN Charter and all accepted norms of international law.” He said these attacks represent a direct attack on the principles of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect, and were established by the United Nations Forum to defend them.
In pursuit of urgent international action, Araguchi said: “It is a moral duty to clearly condemn both the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the act of aggression against my country. This forum must call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an uninterrupted flow of humanitarian assistance, and an end to the profession that promotes this endless cycle.”
In his broader remarks, Araguchi highlighted Iran’s commitment to protecting cultural heritage, promoting technological tools such as satellite imaging and AI to protect ancient sites, and supporting a global move to return stolen cultural artifacts to their country of origin. He focused on the return of treasures to Egypt, Greece, Iran, Iraq and Nigeria as an important step in correcting historical injustice.
He also emphasized the role of cultural tourism in sustainable development, saying that ancient civilizations provided opportunities for the world to promote dialogue and mutual understanding.
To conclude his speech, Araguchi urged members of the forum to take advantage of the principles of justice that had maintained ancient civilization for thousands of years. “Our legacy must be that we were not on the sidelines indifferent to genocide,” he said. “Let’s end the bloodshed in Gaza, maintain our shared legacy and act to build a future of peace, dialogue and cooperation.”
Foreign ministers from Iran, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Armenia and China attended the meeting.