Permanent Mission of Iran – Right of reply Thank you, madame Chair. We are proud to be a nation of multicultural and multilinguistic character. The richness and depth of Iranian culture and its whole history are beholden to the interactions and interventions of its diverse culture, ethnic, religious, and linguistic communities. This has been dully reflected on the social media platforms of Iran and relevant regulations. The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply appreciates this aspect of its democratic characteristics as an invaluable asset and spares no effort in maintaining and further strengthening our ethnic communities, cultures, and particularities, even their various rich and beautiful traditions in all regions, including Arab, Baluchi, [?], Kurds, Lure, Turkmens, and other linguistic and dialectical communities. Madame Chair, my delegation listened to various comments and interventions with an open mind and utmost tolerance, in demonstration of a rich tradition and human values that the Islamic Republic firmly stands for. However, I cannot help expressing our dismay and disappointment that this forum is being badly abused by some terrorist elements disguised as NGOs. The so-called Ahwazi Center for Human Rights is exactly a cover-up for terrorist elements who blew a gathering in Ahwaz in 2018, and killed many innocent people, among them innocent children, who by the way were mostly our Arab brothers and sisters, who this so-called NGO falsely claimed to represent. The presence and participation in this [?] body is a disrespect to all the human values we all share. The absurdities voiced today by two other speakers who have chosen to leave their motherland many years ago for whatever reason do not change the realities on the ground: in Iran we value ethnic groups and their cultures as essential in Iran’s overall social, cultural, and political fabric.