Iran Urges Reforms in UNSC to Solve Legitimacy Crisis

Speaking before a UNSC meeting in New York on Monday, Takht-Ravanchi criticized the structure of the Council, stressing that it needs to be expanded in a balanced way.

The Iranian envoy noted that geopolitically, the 15-member Council is mostly dominated by western countries, three of which have veto power. 

This is while, geographically, the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) is over-represented and the main regions are poorly represented in terms of number and have fewer rights and privileges in terms of veto power or permanent membership, he added.

"To date, one-third of UN members have never found a chance to become a Council member while there have been 20 countries that have each served between 10-22 years in this body."

Takht-Ravanchi called for addressing and rectifying this "disproportionality and injustice” by measures such as limiting chances for those who have served more and, instead, providing more advantages to those who have never served in the Council or served fewer times.

He noted, "This is essential in ensuring equal opportunities for all States to become a Council member as well as in preventing the domination of a certain regional or geopolitical group over the Council."

The ambassador said the Council’s reforms should ensure that its members decide based not on their own national interests but based on the common interests of the entire UN membership.

"The Council must also stop increasing the excessive and expeditious resort to its Chapter VII functions. For instance, it has imposed sanctions in situations where no action was even necessary," he said.

"Chapter VII must be invoked as a measure of last resort, if necessary," Takht-Ravanchi noted.

For several years, the Islamic Republic of Iran remained under sanctions based on a Resolution passed by the UN Security Council enacted under the Chapter VII of the UN Charter, until the Resolution 2231 endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, and took the country out of Chapter VII.