February 28, 2026, marks a dark date in the contemporary calendar of humanity; a day when the hands of the clocks went on strike in a state of protest and profound shock.
On this day, the unlawful attacks by the Zionist regime and the United States against the territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran dealt a finishing blow to the discourse of international law regarding the prohibition of the threat or use of force in international relations. From this date onward, who can still regard the United Nations Charter as the foundation of lawful and civilized conduct in international relations?
On this dark day, 168 schoolgirls in the city of Minab were martyred by American missiles while in their classrooms. What answer do the four Geneva Conventions have to offer for this?
On this same day, the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran was targeted in his office, alongside his family, in what constitutes state terrorism by the United States; it is deeply regrettable that the delusional President of this regime continues, even now, to speak with pride of the assassination of a political leader of a country.
What, truly, response or instruments does international law possess to halt the machinery of war crimes of the United States and the Zionist regime?
Forty days have passed since the renewed operation of the machinery of terror and crimes against humanity by the Zionist regime and the United States. Every day and night, the people of Iran have been subjected to attacks by these two regimes against urban buildings, infrastructure, bridges, power plants, and even Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The bodies of Iran’s martyrs—men, women, and children alike—are brought out daily from beneath the rubble of their homes. Tragically, the President of the terrorist regime of the United States and the Zionists insist on continuing the killing of the Iranian people, setting daily deadlines to turn Iran’s squares and streets into "hell!"
The law-breaking and delusional President of the United States explicitly speaks of "returning Iran to the Stone Age!" while the international community maintains its silence!
Yes, forty days have passed; forty days during which Iran has been the target of comprehensive attacks by two war-mongering and rogue regimes. The tragedy is that the costs of these demonic adventures of the Zionist regime are paid by the peoples of America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and everywhere else on this planet.
The desired and ideal world of the child-killing U.S. regime and the Zionists is a world of bombs, missiles, intimidation, and terror.
Today, ancient Iran stands tall and steadfast in the face of the all-out onslaught by the Zionist regime and its proxy government in the United States.
Its Leader has been assassinated; its commanders massacred; its civilized people drenched in blood; yet, the Iranian youth stand resolutely engaged in defending themselves and their seven-thousand-year history.
Amid all this, what is truly lamentable is the complicity of certain Muslim countries in the region with these criminals. Some neighboring governments have turned their homes into launch pads for attacks against Iran, placing their territories at the disposal of Iran’s enemies to assault, kill, and commit atrocities. Those who have participated in the war crimes and assassinations of the terrorist regime now raise their voices in protest when Iran responds, in retaliation, with dignity, honor, and strength to the attacks of its enemies, asking why Iran targets the bases of the criminal enemy!
The displacement of the roles of "perpetrator" and "victim" is no longer confined to theaters and books; these bitter scenes are now unfolding in the Persian Gulf.
And Iran, a country where the trees lining its streets have a longer history than the aggressors, stands powerfully present in the Persian Gulf, reminding all criminals and their companions in the region that though you assassinated Iran’s Leader, the young Leader of Iran stands mightily in the trenches of defending the Islamic homeland, and the heroic Iranian nation continues to fill the pages of history with courage and valiant resistance, while whispering this poem:
O schoolgirls of Minab!
Daughters of the Seven Seas,
Why did you come to the Planet of the Crimson Rose?
Here, in the darkness, the Devil
Has seized your silence
And your fate.
The night-worshipping Devil knows not
That with the keen blade of the morning sun
From your thousand-shattered bodies
You shall rise from the Persian Gulf
And banish sleep from the night of the “Blind Whale.”
Editor’s Note:
This article is authored by Dr. Alireza Delkhosh, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Sri Lanka.
