Addressing the Conference on Disarmament, held in Geneva on August 20, Iran’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office and other international organizations, Ali Bahreini, condemned attacks on Iran’s civilian and scientific space infrastructure during the recent US-Israeli war of aggression, urging the international community to reject such attacks and strengthen protections for peaceful space activities.
The full text of his statement follows:
Thank you, Mr. President.
Allow me at the outset to congratulate Pakistan on assuming the Presidency of the world’s single multilateral negotiating forum on disarmament. We also warmly welcome you, Ambassador Tahir ANDRABI, to Geneva and look forward to working closely with you. You can count on the full cooperation and support of the Iranian delegation in discharging your responsibilities and in our collective efforts to conclude a comprehensive and balanced report.
We also commend your decision to convene this plenary meeting under agenda item 3, thereby ensuring that all agenda items of the Conference are duly addressed and considered.
Let us also join previous speakers in expressing our appreciation to the distinguished Ambassador of Argentina, who served as Coordinator of Subsidiary Body 3 in 2025, for his valuable contributions and dedicated efforts.
Mr. President,
As almost every aspect of human life becomes increasingly dependent on space-based technologies and applications, ensuring secure and sustainable access to space services has become a matter of common concern for all.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has consistently supported the preservation of outer space exclusively for peaceful purposes. We believe that its weaponization and transformation into an arena for military confrontation constitute the most serious threats to the peaceful and sustainable use of outer space.
The placement of weapons and offensive military capabilities in outer space, including those designed for space-to-space and space-to-Earth operations, would undermine international peace and security and threaten the equal and non-discriminatory right of all States to explore and use outer space for peaceful purposes.
We are deeply concerned by the development of military space programmes and capabilities, including initiatives such as the so-called “Golden Dome”, the establishment of dedicated military space forces, the designation of outer space as a war-fighting domain, and the pursuit of unilateral military superiority in outer space. Such developments affect the security perceptions of other States and may encourage counter-capabilities, thereby creating dangerous cycles of action and reaction and intensifying the risk of an arms race.
We are also concerned by the increasing hostile use of mega constellations, commercial satellites and space systems. In this regard, possible applicability of international humanitarian law to outer space should not be invoked in a manner that could unduly shield commercial satellite networks used for hostile purposes or in ways that infringe upon the sovereignty of States.
Mr. President,
The protection of outer space must also encompass ground-based space infrastructure that enables the peaceful exploration and use of outer space. Facilities used for research, production, launch, operation, monitoring and control, as well as civilian and scientific infrastructure supporting essential space services, must not become targets of military attacks. Any attacks against such infrastructure should be unequivocally rejected and condemned.
During the recent full-scale war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran by the regimes of the United States and Israel, civilian and scientific infrastructure forming part of Iran’s peaceful space activities were deliberately targeted. These facilities served exclusively peaceful purposes and supported disaster management, environmental monitoring, satellite communications, scientific research, public warning systems and the safety of civilians during emergencies.
The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns these attacks and warns that, if the international community remains silent or fails to respond adequately, no State can assume that it will be immune from similar actions in the future.
Such attacks are contrary to international law, including the Charter of the United Nations and International Humanitarian Law, and undermine the legitimate right of States to use outer space for peaceful purposes, and place the sustainability of outer space activities at serious risk.
Mr. President,
Space security must not be defined solely from the perspective of technologically advanced countries. Developing countries are equally entitled to security and safety in their peaceful use of outer space.
The Islamic Republic of Iran therefore calls for the immediate commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament on a comprehensive, non-discriminatory and legally binding international instrument to prevent an arms race in outer space.
Such an instrument should, inter alia, prohibit the placement of weapons in outer space, prevent the threat or use of force from outer space against States and space objects, prohibit the use of space-based capabilities for hostile and offensive military purposes, and provide effective protection for peaceful civilian space-related infrastructure.
In this regard, my delegation considers the draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space and of the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects, introduced by the Russian Federation and China in 2008 and updated in 2014, as a useful basis for negotiations.
Finally, Mr. President,
PAROS is an urgent security imperative. Outer space must remain a domain of peaceful cooperation, accessible to all States on an equal and non-discriminatory basis, and governed by clear and legally binding obligations. This process should also contribute to ensuring equitable and non-discriminatory access to outer space, space technologies and related capabilities, particularly for developing countries, while preserving their legitimate right to benefit from the peaceful uses of outer space.
Non-legally binding measures like responsible behavior and norms, risk reduction or operational and technological self-restraint may, in certain circumstances, complement a legally binding instrument, but cannot substitute for it. Recent developments have clearly demonstrated that non-legally binding measures, however well-intentioned, are neither sufficient nor effective in preventing unlawful acts or addressing the risks associated with the weaponization of outer space.
We therefore call upon all States to move beyond fragmented, selective and non-binding approaches and to demonstrate the political will necessary to commence, without further delay, negotiations on a comprehensive legally binding instrument to prevent an arms race in outer space.
Thank you, Mr. President.