Lebanon Accuses Iran of Vienna Convention Violations, Cites Revolutionary Guard Actions

Lebanon filed an official complaint with the United Nations accusing Iran of violating the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and dragging the country into a devastating war, with the Lebanese foreign ministry sending identical letters to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the president of the UN Security Council on 21 April.

“Accused of allowing the United States and Israel to use its territory and airspace to launch attacks”

Anadolu Ajansi

The complaint accused "Iranian state institutions, including the Revolutionary Guard" of carrying out "unlawful acts in defiance" of Lebanese government decisions and said Iran had drawn Lebanon into a devastating war since 2 March.

Anadolu Ajansi

Lebanon also requested that the complaint be circulated as an official document of both the UN General Assembly under agenda item 84 and the UN Security Council, and it challenged Iranian accounts surrounding the killing of four Iranian diplomats during an Israeli strike on Beirut's Ramada Hotel on 8 March.

The complaint disputed Iran's account of the diplomats' deaths, denying that the Iranian embassy had coordinated with Lebanese authorities regarding their transfer to the Ramada Hotel, and it said "some of those killed were not officially registered as diplomats" as a violation of the Vienna Convention.

Lebanon’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ahmad Arafa said he was acting "on instructions from the Lebanese government" when the letter was transmitted to the UN Secretary-General and the presidency of the Security Council under reference S/2026/343.

Lebanon’s foreign affairs ministry clarified that the document does not constitute a formal complaint against Iran, but rather a response to letters sent by Tehran to the Security Council, after media outlets reported the filing of a first Lebanese complaint against Iran at the U.N.

In the text reviewed by L’Orient-Le Jour, Lebanese authorities accuse Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of "illegal acts committed in open defiance of decisions by the Lebanese government" and of having dragged Lebanon into a devastating war.

Fars News Agency

The same document challenges Tehran’s claim that its embassy informed Lebanese authorities of the transfer of Iranian diplomats to the Ramada Hotel, while Lebanon’s foreign ministry states that "no coordination took place with the Iranian embassy regarding this movement."

Lebanon also said the Iranian embassy "failed to notify Lebanon of the presence of two individuals among the six diplomats killed, Ahmad Rasouli and Amir Moradi" contrary to Article 10 of the Vienna Convention, and it said it requested twice an updated list of diplomatic staff but received no response.

The letter further cites Iranian media reports claiming that "the six diplomats were in reality members of the Revolutionary Guards" and says images showed them in military uniform, raising concerns under Vienna Convention provisions Lebanon linked to interference and misuse of diplomatic premises.

While Lebanon pursued its UN complaint, Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed at least 29 people across several regions on Wednesday, according to combined tolls from L'Orient Today’s correspondent and the health ministry.

L'Orient Today reported that Israeli army drones intensified targeted strikes on roads in southern Lebanon, including three separate attacks on three cars that killed eight people, and it said the first drone attack targeted a car near the Jadra junction in Jiyyeh on the coastal highway connecting Saida to the capital.

The same report described forced evacuation orders for villages in the Sour district, including Maashouk, Yanouh, Burj al-Shemali, Halloussiyeh Fawqa, Debaal, and Abbasieh, and it said the municipality of Abbasieh called in a statement for residents to "immediately" take shelter in the temporary center located at the village high school.

Hezbollah claimed attacks on Israeli army positions in occupied southern Lebanon, including in the Bint Jbeil district, at Wadi Ouyoun, Sarbine, and Rshaf, and it said it launched an explosive drone at a bulldozer at Khallet al-Raj, near Deir Siryan.

In parallel, Lebanon’s UN dispute is framed against a broader diplomatic and security backdrop, with the New Arab describing the complaint as an escalation that seeks international accountability for Tehran’s repeated breaches and for actions that Lebanon says resulted in "the displacement of more than one million people" and "widespread destruction".