Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman has censured as politically-motivated and unjustified the adoption of a resolution against the Islamic Republic in the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly over alleged human rights violations.

The draft resolution, approved by a vote of 77 in favor, 28 against as well as 66 abstentions on Wednesday, came after the committee, providing no evidence, accused Iran of “violation of its international obligations,” and claimed that “respect for human rights” had deteriorated in the country.

Esmail Baghaei condemned the resolution pushed by Canada and some of its Western allies as a “hypocritical act and a clear example of using human rights as a tool for achieving illegitimate political goals.”

Baghaei said the anti-Iran move by Canada, the United States, Germany, England and a number of other Western countries, which themselves violate human rights and are complicit in the Israeli regime’s crimes and the genocide of the Palestinian people, is a “complete manifestation of their duplicitous act.”

He said the resolution clearly undermines the noble concept of human rights as a tool for exerting political pressure on independent nations, adding, “The Islamic Republic of Iran will spare no action to protect and promote human rights.”

Pointing to the Israeli regime’s co-sponsorship in drafting and approving the resolution, Baghaei decried the move as a “grave political and moral scandal” for the West which is attempting to “devalue the noble concept of human rights and render international institutions devoid” of it.

Baghaei underscored, “As a democratic system, the Islamic Republic of Iran obliges itself to safeguard and promote human rights and fulfill its international obligations based on the principles enshrined in the [country’s] Constitution.”

The accusations of human rights violations against Iran come as the humanitarian situation is further deteriorating in the Gaza Strip due to Israel’s brutal aggression and the failure of the international community to put an end to it.

Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched a devastating war on the besieged Gaza Strip on October 7 last year, after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories.

So far, the regime has killed at least 43,972 Palestinians, most of them women, children, and adolescents, and injured more than 104,000 others.

Later on Wednesday, the United States vetoed another draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council that called for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Since the beginning of the Israeli campaign of death and destruction on October 7, 2023, the Security Council has struggled to speak with one voice, as the United States has used its veto power multiple times.

The few resolutions that the United States did allow to pass by abstaining stopped short of calling for an unconditional and permanent ceasefire.