Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has written a message on X to mark the anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, noting that the countries that brought it into being are violating those laws.

He recounts that the four treaties established the basic rules of war “in order to civilise humanity and humanise war”.

“The architects of these four treaties could scarcely have imagined that, in 2026 — 77 years after the adoption of these instruments — the United States, host nation of the United Nations and a permanent member of the Security Council, would repeatedly threaten to attack the infrastructure, bridges, and power plants of another country, and would in fact commit such crimes,” Baqaei writes.

He adds that Article 1 of the Conventions does not merely obligate signatories to respect the treaties, but to “ensure respect” for them as well.

“Silence in the face of explicit threats against civilian objects is not mere political passivity — it is the erosion of one of the most fundamental civilisational and legal achievements of the post-World War II era,” he writes.