Iran's president censures Trump's 'unilateral' Golan recognition

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has censured US President Donald Trump for recognizing the Israeli regime's "sovereignty" over the occupied Golan Heights, saying the unilateral move was against international law.

"No one could imagine that a man in the United States would unilaterally grant a piece of land belonging to a certain nation to a usurper in violation of international law," Rouhani said in a meeting with a number of Iranian cabinet ministers and executive officials in Tehran on Tuesday.

He added that some "colonial powers" in the past carried out similar moves and donated a part of a country to another, "but such an action is unprecedented in the current century."

Breaking with decades of international consensus, Trump on Monday formally recognized Israeli "sovereignty" over the occupied Golan Heights, a border area the Tel Aviv regime seized from Syria in 1967.

Trump signed the proclamation as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump's Jewish son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner were standing at his side in the White House in Washington, DC.

Trump's move has not gone unnoticed and condemnations have been coming from around the world and prominent international rights groups.

Back in December 2018, the majority of the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution urging the Israeli regime to withdraw from the entirety of the Syrian Golan Heights.

The resolution, titled "The Syrian Golan," was adopted by a record vote of 99 in favor, 10 against and 66 abstentions. It declared that Israel’s controversial move to extend its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied mountainous plateau is null and void.

EA