Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Anniversary of the Adoption of the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 on the Laws of War

Seventy-seven years ago on 12 August 1949 the Four Geneva Conventions on the laws of war were adopted. Based on these binding international instruments a set of principles and rules governing armed conflicts was formulated including the principle of “distinction” between military and civilian objectives “proportionality” “military necessity” and “refraining from causing unnecessary pain and suffering.” Common Article 1 of all four Conventions also obliges the High Contracting Parties not only to respect the provisions of the Conventions “in all circumstances” but also to ensure respect for them. These rules are now an integral part of international humanitarian law and are binding on all States.

Seventy-seven years ago, on 12 August 1949, the Four Geneva Conventions on the laws of war were adopted. Based on these binding international instruments, a set of principles and rules governing armed conflicts was formulated, including the principle of “distinction” between military and civilian objectives, “proportionality,” “military necessity,” and “refraining from causing unnecessary pain and suffering.” Common Article 1 of all four Conventions also obliges the High Contracting Parties not only to respect the provisions of the Conventions “in all circumstances,” but also to ensure respect for them. These rules are now an integral part of international humanitarian law and are binding on all States.

Despite the clarity of these principles and rules, and notwithstanding the legal obligation of all States “to respect and ensure respect for” these rules, the world is witnessing unprecedented violations of the rules of international humanitarian law. The Zionist regime alone is the greatest violator of international humanitarian law and, over the past eight decades, has committed the most severe international crimes—particularly war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity—in occupied Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and other parts of the West Asia region. The war crimes committed by the Zionist regime during its aggressive operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran in the years 2025 and 2026, which were carried out with the complicity and participation of the United States, rank among the most serious violations of international humanitarian law since 1949.

The war crimes committed by the terrorist army of the United States and the genocidal Zionist regime during the military aggression against Iran over the past year and a half have shifted the boundaries of savagery and barbarity. The killing of students and teachers in Minab with Tomahawk missiles and the attack on the Lamerd stadium with cluster munitions on February 28, 2026, as well as the attack on residential homes in Qeshm with one-ton bombs on July 30, 2026, are merely examples of the thousands of war crimes committed by the United States and the Zionist regime against the Iranian nation.

The clear and systematic disregard by the governing establishment of the United States for the fundamental rules of international humanitarian law, together with the explicit statements of its high-ranking officials—including the President, the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of State—alongside the recurring pattern of attacks against civilians and civilian objects and infrastructure, demonstrate the intention of the United States Government to commit grave, severe, and organized violations of the rules of armed conflict. The attacks by the United States and the Zionist regime on hospitals, universities, schools, residential areas, bridges, airports, and fire stations, and the killing of civilians, women, and children—including in Minab, Lamerd, and Qeshm—correspond to the acts enumerated in Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, including willful killing, willfully causing great suffering to persons, and extensive destruction of property and assets. Article 147 classifies these acts as grave breaches, and thus the material and mental elements of these crimes are fully established.

The repeated acknowledgments by American officials that they will show “no quarter, no mercy,” their open threats to attack Iran’s infrastructure, bridges, and power plants،, and their use of expressions such as “returning Iran to the Stone Age” and “completely destroying Iranian civilization,” combined with repeated attacks on civilian targets, constitute irrefutable evidence of the existence of prior intent regarding the nature and consequences of the acts committed and of a deliberate pattern in the commission of the grave breaches referred to in Article 147.Accordingly, upon establishment of attribution, causal link, and the other legal elements in each case, the material and mental elements of the grave breaches under Article 147 are established, and criminal responsibility of the perpetrators and those who ordered them arises pursuant to Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which obliges States Parties to prosecute and punish the perpetrators and those who ordered these breaches.

The continuation of grave and serious violations of humanitarian law by the United States and the Zionist regime, on the one hand, and the inaction of the United Nations, the States Parties to the Four Geneva Conventions, and the Depositary State of these Conventions in fulfilling their obligations under Common Article 1 of these instruments, on the other, have led to the normalization of violations of humanitarian law and the promotion of impunity for war crimes. This trend is not merely a threat against one nation،; it constitutes a catastrophic setback for the entire legal system that humanity has built on the path of civilization and the restraint of violence.

The international community, the States Parties to the Geneva Conventions, and the Swiss Confederation as the Depositary of these Conventions cannot remain indifferent to such unprecedented violations, which are clear instances of war crimes.