Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has censured France and other countries for preaching about human rights and international law while supporting Israeli and US war crimes.
Araghchi made the remarks in an X post on Thursday, after the French Foreign Ministry said 32 states, including France, the UK and Canada, along with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, have in a joint statement condemned the use of capital punishment against foreign-linked rioters in Iran.
“Countries like France should stop lecturing the world about ‘human rights’ and international law. The hypocrisy is blatant and embarrassing,” the top Iranian diplomat said.
“Your backing of Israel’s genocide in Gaza—and aggression against Iran—has destroyed whatever moral high ground you imagined you had.
Countries like France should stop lecturing the world about “human rights” and international law. The hypocrisy is blatant and embarrassing.
Your backing of Israel’s genocide in Gaza—and aggression against Iran—has destroyed whatever moral high ground you imagined you had.
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) August 13, 2026
Israel launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas resistance group carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
In 2025, the Tel Aviv regime accepted a ceasefire after failing to achieve its declared objectives of the military assault. Since then, however, Israel has kept attacking Gaza in violation of the truce.
Over the past almost three years, Israel has killed at least 73,388 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 174,259 others.
The Israeli regime and the United States also waged their first illegal war on Iran in June 2025. Their second deadly aggression began on February 28 and came to a halt in early April after 40 days.
In both wars, Iran’s brave resistance and decisive retaliatory operations forced the enemies to accept a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, back in January, foreign-backed riots erupted in Tehran and several other Iranian cities, resulting in multiple fatalities and widespread damage to public property.
What initially began as peaceful demonstrations over economic grievances in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar gradually escalated into violent unrest, as foreign intelligence agencies exploited the protests to advance a “regime change” agenda against the Islamic Republic.
On January 8 and 9 in particular, heavily armed rioters and terrorists rampaged through parts of Tehran and other cities, attacking security personnel and setting fire to public and private property, including shops, buses, and mosques.
Iranian officials have linked the riots and terrorist acts to the US and the Israeli regime, with President Masoud Pezeshkian saying that armed rioters were trained by the US and Israeli spy agencies.
Observers have warned that the US orchestrated riots inside Iran to disintegrate the West Asian country and plunder its oil and other natural resources.
