Mr. NOURY-ESFANDIARY thanked the Government of the French Republic on behalf of the Iranian delegation for the generous hospitality kindly extended to it.
At the close of the most dreadful of all wars that had ever devastated the world, the United Nations Organization had been created with the aim of ensuring for sadly tried mankind the peace and security to which it aspired after so much suffering and misfortune. Despite the bitter memory of the failure of the League of Nations to fulfil its essential task of safeguarding peace, the newly created Organization had brought fresh comfort to its Member nations by holding out to them the promise of a peaceful existence based on law and justice.
Only three years had passed and already difficulties of all kinds existed, which one day might threaten the very existence of the Organization if they were not resolved in a spirit of understanding and mutual collaboration. In international life, difficulties might arise at every step and divergencies of opinion were frequent indeed in the face of post-war problems, grave and complex as they were.
What mattered however was that those problems should be approached with a feeling of moral responsibility and with a firm will to solve them, and that at the most critical times, such as the present, a supreme effort should be made to reach solutions that were both practical and just.
The Iranian delegation, together with all others, rejoiced in the existence of the United Nations; but it was also duty bound to help to make it capable of fulfilling its primary task — that of maintaining peace and international security by suppressing all acts of aggression.
Without wishing to underestimate the importance of the economic and social work of the Organization, he must point out that unless paragraph 1 of Article 1 of the Charter were carried into effect fully and faithfully, all activities, in whatever field they might he, would be in vain and would fail to bring practical results.
Among the members of delegations present there must be some who, like himself, had taken part in the work of the League of Nations. There, many splendid speeches inspired by noble and pacific sentiments were heard. The result of those speeches was well known. That edifice of peace erected by the combined efforts of nations aspiring to peace and international justice, on which so many hopes had been founded, had crumbled one fine day at the whim of a criminal who had precipitated the world into an unprecedented catastrophe.
It was said that the past ought to be forgotten and that all should look towards the future. How could that precept be followed when the past, in all its heart-rending horror, was still alive in men’s minds? It would be better to draw from the past some useful, lessons for the future.
Iran, which had contributed to the Allied victory at the cost of heavy sacrifices that were still being felt, and which had not yet recovered from the impact of the war, pursued only two aims: the first was to collaborate wholeheartedly with the United Nations in the accomplishment of its task. In order to ensure such collaboration, Iran would loyally fulfil the obligations it had assumed under the Charter and would expect others to fulfil them as faithfully. It would respect the political independence and territorial integrity of all the Member States, and insisted that others should respect its own. Not all the Members of the United Nations had the same responsibilities; the responsibility borne by the great Powers was far greater by virtue of their strength, and above all of their privileges under the Charter. It would be unfair to profit from prerogatives without fulfilling the duties which they entailed.
As regards the privilege of the veto, without wishing to propose, at the present stage, the total or partial revision of the Charter, Iran approved the recommendations of the Interim Committee, and considered that if they were accepted by the permanent members of the Security Council they would prevent improper use of the veto.
The second aim of Iran was to resume the work of internal development interrupted by the war in an atmosphere of serenity and international peace. For that purpose the competent organs of the United Nations could help, above all the Economic and Social Council and the specialized agencies. In that connexion Iran welcomed the steps taken to create an Economic Commission for the Middle East, and hoped that the programme of that Commission would be adopted as speedily as possible.
The Iranian delegation believed that in order to check the wave of anxiety which was spreading over the world, the great problems before the United Nations should be courageously tackled with firm intention to keep the promises solemnly undertaken, while selfish interests should at all times be sacrificed for the sake of universal peace.