Will Security Council Ignore Fakhrizadeh Assassination?

A few hours after the assassination of the prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Tehran called on the UN Security Council to condemn the incident and take action agianst those behind it. Diplomats said the security council did not respond to Tehran`s call.

The 15-member council may discuss the incident that took place on Friday in a closed session if one of the members requested that, the Security Council may agree unanimously to issue a statement on the matter.

Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations Jerry Matjila, who chairs the Security Council during December, said on Tuesday, that no member state has asked to discuss the incident or the Iranian issue in general.

The diplomats also confirmed that there was no discussion about issuing a statement.

Although no party has claimed responsibility for the killing of Fakhrizadeh, whom Western powers consider to be the head of Iran's nuclear weapons program, Tehran has accused Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment, according to Reuters.

The United States, which usually shields Israel from any Security Council action, declined to comment on Fakhrizadeh's assassination.

On Friday, Agnes Callamard, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, said: "Many questions surround the killing of Fakhrizadeh, but they indicated the definition of targeted killing outside the borders of the state and outside of an armed conflict."

In a tweet, Callamard said: "Such killing is a violation of international human rights law that prohibits forced deprivation of life, and a violation of the United Nations Charter that prohibits the use of force outside state borders in times of peace."

On Friday, Iran addressed its letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

For his part, Guterres urged restraint and condemned "any assassination or extrajudicial killing," UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Saturday.

The Security Council is scheduled to hold its semi-annual session on December 22. During the session, it will review commitment to a resolution that strengthens the 2015 nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran, from which the US President Donald Trump's administration withdrew in 2018.

And any member of the council or of Iran could raise the issue of killing Fakhrizadeh at that meeting.