In a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the president of the UN Security Council, Gholamhossein Darzi, Iran’s ambassador and deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said the US attacked the Iranian rescue vessels Naji-15 and Naji-16 during the early hours of July 23 while they were operating in Iran’s territorial waters off Hormozgan Province.
Darzi said the two vessels were dedicated exclusively to maritime search-and-rescue missions and were protected under international humanitarian law and the law of the sea.
The following is the full text of the letter:
Excellencies,
Upon instructions from my Government and further to our previous letters, including the letters dated 16, 17 and 20 July 2026, concerning the continued acts of aggression and grave violations of international law committed by the United States of America against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I wish to draw your urgent attention, and that of the members of the Security Council, to yet another serious violation of international humanitarian law committed by the United States against humanitarian maritime search and rescue assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In the early hours of 23 July 2026, the United States deliberately attacked two Iranian maritime search and rescue (SAR) vessels, Naji-15 and Naji-16, operating in the territorial waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Hormozgan Province. According to the competent Iranian maritime authorities, the vessels were engaged exclusively in humanitarian search and rescue operations and sustained significant damage as a result of the attack. This was not an isolated incident. Since the commencement of the United States’ and the Israeli regime’s aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran on 28 February 2026, Iranian search and rescue vessels and sea ambulances engaged solely in life-saving humanitarian missions have repeatedly been targeted, revealing a disturbing pattern of deliberate attacks against protected humanitarian assets.
The deliberate targeting of vessels assigned exclusively to maritime search and rescue operations constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and international maritime law. Search and rescue vessels perform an exclusively humanitarian function by saving the lives of persons in distress at sea. Article 27 of the Second Geneva Convention of 1949 requires that small crafts employed by States or officially recognized rescue institutions for coastal rescue operations be respected and protected. The vessels Naji-15 and Naji-16 fall within the scope of this protection and were not engaged in any military activity or direct participation in hostilities. Their intentional targeting therefore constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law and amounts to a war crime.
By deliberately targeting humanitarian search and rescue assets, the United States has not only endangered the lives of rescue personnel, but has also placed at risk all mariners in distress, regardless of their nationality. Such conduct strikes at the very foundation of the international legal framework established to safeguard humanitarian operations and ensure the safety of navigation at sea.
The Islamic Republic of Iran unequivocally condemns this heinous war crime and holds the United States fully responsible for all consequences arising from this unlawful act. Iran calls upon the Security Council to discharge its primary responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations by unequivocally condemning this grave violation of international humanitarian law, ensuring full accountability for those responsible, and taking effective measures to prevent the recurrence of attacks against humanitarian maritime assets and personnel.
The Islamic Republic of Iran further calls upon the Secretary-General of the United Nations to condemn this unlawful act, and to engage the relevant bodies, including the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to ensure full respect for international humanitarian law and the protection of maritime search and rescue services.
The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to provide safe, uninterrupted and non-discriminatory maritime search and rescue services to all persons in distress at sea consistent with its international obligations. No act of aggression will deter Iran from fulfilling its humanitarian responsibilities or diminish its resolve to safeguard human life at sea.
I should be grateful if you would have the present letter circulated as an official document of the Security Council.
Please accept, Excellencies, the assurances of our highest consideration.
Gholamhossein Darzi
Ambassador and Chargé d’Affaires
