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Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani has alleged that the Israeli government has assassinated four senior Iranian diplomats in what he describes as a "heinous crime" in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the envoy said that on March 8, the Israeli government had carried out a targeted strike at the Ramada Hotel in Beirut, claiming the lives of the victims. Iravani noted that after the IDF had publicly threatened to target Iranian official representatives in Lebanon, the diplomats had been temporarily relocated to the hotel as a safety measure. In his letter, the ambassador alleged that the assassination of the diplomats "while serving as official representatives of a sovereign state in the territory of another sovereign state is a heinous act of terrorism and a grave violation of international law." He further claimed that such a "flagrant breach" of the UN Charter and the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons could not go unpunished. Earlier, the Israel Defence Forces said that they had conducted an additional wave of airstrikes targeting assets and storage facilities of the Hezbollah affiliated Al-Quard Al-Hassan Association in Lebanon, used to finance the purchasing of weapons and terrorist salaries, as part of ongoing efforts to further degrade Hezbollah's military capabilities. IDF also announced the elimination of Hassan Salameh, the Commander of Hezbollah's 'Nassar' Unit Salameh in a precise IAF strike in the Jwaya area. The Hezbollah commander the IDF said had held multiple key positions in the terror organization. Israeli Defence Forces on Tuesday (local time) also conducted a combined strike in Tehran and Tabriz, as per the details shared by the Israel Defence Forces.In a post on X, the IDF said, that the targets struck included a special units command center in Tabriz, an "Imam Hassan" security unit military compound in Tehran, a command centre for the security unit responsible for ballistic missile launches & artillery fire, a command center for the Intelligence and General Security Police in Maragheh Province and a large Basij forces compound in Tabriz. The developments follow amid an escalating security situation in West Asia, which has resulted in the conflict being now expanded beyond Iran, with Iranian retaliatory strikes--using missiles and drones--targeting U.S. military bases, embassies, and civilian/energy infrastructure in neighbouring Gulf nations, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan. The conflict has caused significant disruptions to global energy supplies, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz, where approximately 20% of the world's oil transits. (ANI)
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