Iran has sharply criticised a new United Nations human rights report, accusing its author of ignoring alleged crimes by the United States and Israel while focusing criticism on Tehran, according to Mehr News Agency.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei made the accusation in a post on X on Friday. He said the report by Mai Sato, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, reflected a politically motivated mandate and unfairly shifted blame away from foreign military action.
Baghaei wrote that using the special rapporteur’s role to hold Iran responsible for crimes committed by the United States and Israel amounted to “a deliberate attempt to whitewash aggression, atrocities, and unilateral coercive measures.” He called the approach “deeply misleading and profoundly disingenuous.”
The dispute centres on Sato’s latest report to the UN General Assembly, published on October 28. It covers the period from February to August 2026 and examines the human rights situation in Iran.
In the report, Sato said that military strikes by the United States and Israel had worsened conditions inside Iran. She argued that external attacks had compounded what she described as domestic repression, placing additional pressure on Iranian civilians and institutions.
Iran’s foreign ministry rejected that framing. Officials argued that the report gave insufficient weight to the impact of foreign strikes and sanctions on ordinary Iranians, while repeating accusations against Tehran’s internal policies.
The criticism reflects Iran’s long-standing opposition to the UN Human Rights Council’s country-specific mandate on Iran. Tehran says the mechanism is politically driven and selectively applied, while Western governments and rights groups argue that independent monitoring is necessary because of concerns over civil liberties, judicial practices and treatment of dissidents.
The exchange comes at a time of heightened regional tension. Iran has repeatedly condemned US and Israeli military actions, describing them as violations of international law. Washington and Israel have defended their operations as measures against security threats.
Sato’s report is likely to deepen the divide. For Iran, it represents another instance of international scrutiny it considers unjust. For rights advocates, it is a reminder that civilian populations often bear the heaviest cost when geopolitical conflict and domestic repression intersect.
