Geneva, March 17 (QNA) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) reaffirmed its categorical rejection of any justifications put forward by the Iranian government regarding the hostile escalation against countries in the region, stressing that such claims are merely attempts to mislead the international community in an effort to justify its unprovoked and unlawful aggression against the UAE and countries in the region.

This came in the country's statement during the joint interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran and the Independent and International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council's session in Geneva.

The UAE's statement underscored that targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law and undermines international efforts to strengthen regional security and stability.

It added that this ongoing unprovoked aggression, which has continued for 17 days against the UAE, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, has received strong condemnation from the international community through the historic UN Security Council Resolution 2817, co-sponsored by 136 UN Member States, which calls on Iran to immediately cease these attacks.

The statement also affirmed the UAE's outright rejection of the characterization contained in the report of the Special Rapporteur and the Fact-Finding Mission, describing these attacks as "retaliatory strikes," emphasizing that such characterization lacks any legal or factual basis and provides an unjustified pretext for acts of aggression that are unlawful under international law.

The UAE also stressed that any attempts to characterize or justify this aggression under any pretext would set a dangerous precedent that runs counter to the principles of the international order based on respect for state sovereignty. (QNA)