By Arwa, Udita and Purv
The announcement welcomed committee with a bang. Quite literally. On the 4th of August 1987, a Venezuelan oil tanker carrying 50 million tonnes of oil through the strait of Hormuz was shot down by an Iranian fleet on its way to the United Kingdom. So what did the committee do? Nothing. No hands were raised, no motions were passed. Finally, after the persistence of the Chairs, USA passed a motion to discuss the update. Chaos ensued as China misinterpreted the update and proclaimed that they will be supporting Iran. The delegate of USA however, believes Iran has shown its true colours and will now be fully supporting Iraq. Similarly, the UK believes what Iran has done is unacceptable and that they are asking for the war to continue.
On the other hand, the Soviet Union had wished to smoothen out disagreements with Iran, and didn’t realise they had plans to attack the fleets, since they weren’t informed regarding the entire situation. The delegate of UAE, who had previously switched his video off due to claimed ‘wifi issues’, ignored the whole situation by simply not answering when the Chairs asked him to comment on the situation. Argentina and Japan followed suit by also being unable to answer due to their wifi. Moreover, both countries, Italy and Ghana, agreed that Iran is not looking for any peace.
Committee continued with an eventful question and answer session with China and the Soviet Union where responses such as, “I don’t think so,” and “We didn’t know” took the lead. Just as the two countries were being drilled with questions from USA, Venezuela and Zambia, the course of the committee changed as Iran entered the session.
Venezuela asked a question to Iran first: “how is Iran willing to compensate for their loss?” To which Iran simply stated that they will offer no compensation. The destruction of the fleets was an act of revenge from Iran, who claimed that they were only defending themselves. Iran made it clear that they were the victims, saying, “We didn’t start this war,” and that, “The war will continue if we do not receive economic compensation.” (Amidst all of this the delegate of UAE continues to be nowhere to be found, sporting the Barcelona football team as their profile picture for all to see.)
It is interesting to consider whether Iran is making the right decision or not. They are not wrong when they say that they are not the ones who started this war. However, as Iraq stated, they have also ignored any inquiries of peace since Iran believes they have a right to their actions. Where should Iran draw the line between settling the scales and petty revenge? Furthermore, if China and the Soviet Union continue to support Iran, are they accessories to war? Iran claimed to have gotten supplies from China and their alliance with Venezuela had deteriorated completely.
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