The Upshot of Iran's Case in the U.N. Security Council

In the following article, Davoud Hermidas-Bavand, Law and international relations professor, reviews the referral of Iran’s terror plot case to the U.N. Security Council.

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia collaboratively intend to inaugurate a new case against Iran, about its threat to international peace and security, in the U.N. Security Council. Although this case is on its way to the UN Security Council to press charges against an Iranian-American for the attempted assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States in Washington, according to Dr. Davoud Hermidas-Bavand, the nature of such charges is not definite yet.

ID: Immediately after announcing the news of “the attempted assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington” by an Iranian-American person, U.S. and Saudi Arabian officials stated that they were referring the case to the U.N. Security Council. What is your assessment of the current events?

DHB: Although the nature of this terror plot charge is not clear yet, it has brought up a lot of different ideas and discussions. The history of referring such cases to the UN goes back to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, after which two resolutions about terrorism were passed in the Security Council.

Following the enactment of these two resolutions, a committee was established, including 15 members of the Security Council in the UN. It has been responsible for investigating international terrorism acts and tracking down how the terrorist groups get financial support and/or which countries provide them with funds. Then the committee would have to present a report on the specific international terrorism issue to the U.N. Security Council.

Although the committee was active at first, they stopped publishing more reports after a while. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia would probably ask the committee to pursue the case of Iran’s terror plot against the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington and present the report to the Security Council.

Another example of tracking international terror issues through this committee was the assassination of Rafic Hariri, the previous prime minster of Lebanon, where France and the U.S. took the case to the Security Council. In fact, whenever the “international peace and security” is in grave danger, the committee is asked to take action.

ID: According to Saudi Arabia’s official declaration and the stance Susan Rice, the United States Ambassador to the U.N., has taken, the threat to “the international peace and security” is the very reason they are referring Iran’s terror plot case to the Security Council.

DHB: It used to be perceived that a terror plot against an individual would not put the international peace and security in jeopardy. However, after the assassination of Rafic Hariri, a question was raised about the gravity and impact of such plots against individuals on an international level.

The committee is actually intended to implement a number of steps to improve its ability to counter terrorist activities. The most important ones are to find out the ways the terrorist groups are being financed and detect who supports these terror activities, either passively or actively. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have probably considered Rafic Hariri’s case as the basis of their decision to press charges against Iran in the Security Council.

A few points need to be taken into account before the Security Council accepts the case as a threat to international peace and security:

1. The committee needs to approve the case to be a high priority to the Security Council.

2. The only way the committee would be persuaded of the gravity of this case is through discussion, exchanging ideas and detailed presentation of the required documents.

ID: Lately, President Obama has been enhancing pressure on Iran almost on a daily basis, especially against Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.

DHB: This is only the beginning of a longer process. Most probably, the U.S. will soon bring about other issues concerning Iran and its activities. And this is likely to strengthen the terror plot case for referral to the U.N. Security Council.