Addressing an online meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on the sidelines of the 75th General Assembly of the United Nations, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Mohsen Baharvand said the only way to de-fang militant unilateralism is to double down on multilateralism and respect for international law.

Following is the text of his speech, released by IRNA:

Mr. Chairman,

Our world is increasingly misaligned: not by our choice or our lack of vision, but because of the actions of a minority—desperate to reverse the clear re-pivoting of global power and wealth in the ongoing transition toward a post-Western world order.

And thus, amid the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, the old guards of hegemony and domination use their declining economic might—coupled with their instruments of death and mass destruction—to defy international norms, from the Paris Convention to the INF and the JCPOA; denigrate global institutions, from WHO to the UN Security Council; and trample fundamental human rights by imposing medieval sieges on entire populations.

Lest we forget, we are all in the same boat—and we need to articulate a credible alternative to these hegemonic impulses. If we fail, none of us will be spared.

Make no mistake: while the rogue regime in Washington is trying to export its militant unilateralism around the world, its efforts rely on the passive unilateralism of those who accept US whims in the wishful hope of escaping its wrath.

Dear friends,

Only we can determine the success or failure of lawless bullies: whether it’s US economic terrorism—perpetrated against the peoples of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, China, Russia, Iran and an expanding array of other nations—or its shameless attempts to make the brutal apartheid in Palestine permanent.

The only way to de-fang militant unilateralism is to double down on multilateralism and respect for international law.

We must begin at home by resolving our own disputes through peaceful means based on international law.

And, globally, we should resolve to act in unison, to reject unilateralism, and to abandon passive unilateralism through a collective refusal to observe unilateral measures against others.