Danny Danon calls for UN to designate IRGC as a terrorist organization

NEW YORK – Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, directly addressed the Iranian people in Farsi at a session of the United Nations Security Council, imploring them not to miss this rare, historic opportunity and to “take action now.”

“I am telling the Iranian people, we know the cost of freedom and the courage it demands,” Danon said. “Your fight is not just for yourselves but for the millions of lives the regime has destabilized and destroyed. In your hands lie[s] the power to restore the beautiful Iranian nation, to rebuild a land rich in history, culture, and resilience.”

Danon was the last diplomat to speak during Wednesday’s session centered on the Palestinian question and the Israel-Hamas War. Earlier in the session, Michael Levy, brother of hostage Or Levy, testified before the council about his family’s experience as a hostage family.

The chance before us is clear, Danon said, to finally end the Islamic regime of Iran’s aspirations for a Shi’ite supremacist empire, the chance to “liberate the world from the most corrupt, most violent, most destabilizing regime.”

“Israel has acted decisively,” he said, by striking terror networks that once “cast a shadow over our region.”

Securing regional peace

But the burden of securing peace does not rest on Israel’s shoulders alone, Danon added.

Iran’s provocations continue to escalate, he continued, with shameless threats about its nuclear ambitions. Iran’s proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq remain active and deadly, Danon said, noting that “this is not a localized threat.”

“The Islamic regime of Iran is a danger to the entire world. The recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s nuclear progression, alongside the recent letter from the UK, France, and Germany, highlighting Iran’s – and I quote, ‘significant noncompliance’ – were cries for immediate action,” according to Danon. “This is not about a hypothetical future. The danger is already here, looming on the horizon.”

Danon urged the council to implement “crushing” sanctions to suffocate Iran’s ability to fund its proxies and called on the UN body to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization, calling these steps “imperative.”

He linked the IRGC to ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad: “We are now approaching the holiday of Hanukkah. It is a time of reflection and resilience, a time to draw lessons from history. Hanukkah tells the story of two miracles. The first, of the oil lasting for eight days in the Temple. It was a divine act beyond human control.”

But the second miracle, he said, was the triumph of the Maccabees over the mighty Greek empire, “with a statement to human courage, to the will of a small but determined people who refused to bow to tyranny. Just weeks ago, we saw a cruel and evil regime also overthrown by a determined population, which had instead been oppressed for decades. We all know what Assad did to his people.

“Let me be unequivocal,” Danon continued. “Israel has no intention of occupying Syria or parts of Syria. We are not empire builders. We are defenders – of our people, our borders, and our right to live in peace.”

Danon maintained that Israel’s actions are “limited and defensive.”