By NNN-KUNA
United Nations : Iran has criticized Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for using Israeli “misleading information” in his latest report on resolution 1701 and in which he accused Tehran of smuggling sophisticated weapons into Lebanon through Syria.
In identical letters to Ban and the Security Council president, Iranian envoy Mohammad Khazaee said Iran “rejects the said allegations concerning the so-called ‘claimed transfer of sophisticated weaponry’ to Lebanon.”
“Given the fact that the secretary-general’s reports should be impartial, factual and based on concrete evidence. It is our legitimate expectation and firm belief that the secretary-general should exercise utmost vigilance over the contents of such reports in order to prevent them from being turned into a platform for false, misleading and unfounded allegations manufactured by notorious and unreliable sources, such as the Israeli regime,” Khazaee said.
These allegations which are based on “totally false and misleading” information provided by the Israeli regime, he added, are aimed to distract the international community’s attention from the atrocities it has committed and continues to perpetrate against the Palestinian and Lebanese people.
He noted that the Israeli regime, with its “long record of ill-intended misinformation campaigns has no legitimacy or credibility to level such groundless allegations against others.”
Resolution 1701 put an end to the war between Hezbollah and Israel in the summer of 2006.
The Iranian letter echoed a Lebanese position paper circulated here early last month and in which the Lebanese government accused Israel of fabricating “unsubstantiated allegations” of illicit movements across the border with Syria.
“We request again that any information about the illegal smuggling of arms or persons in the possession of any third country be shared with us directly “or through the UN. Unsubstantiated allegations of illicit movements across the border serve no useful purpose,” the Lebanese paper said.
The paper was conveyed in early March by Lebanese envoy Nawaf Salam in two identical letters to Ban and to the Security Council president.