Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations has demanded that six Persian Gulf states pay full compensation for damage caused during the recent US-Iran war, IRGC-linked media reported on May 1. 

The 40-day war began on February 28 and ended with a ceasefire signed on April 7. Subsequent talks held in Pakistan aimed at securing a lasting peace agreement failed, after which Washington imposed a naval blockade on vessels heading to or leaving Iranian ports on April 13.

The US-based diplomat accused the Gulf Cooperation Council states of complicity with the US and Israel in what Tehran characterises as foreign aggression against Iran. 

The Iranian envoy responded to a joint letter sent to the UN and Security Council by Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Jordan setting out their concerns over the conflict.

The Iranian response asserted that the six countries had participated in aggression against Iran by allowing bases on their territory to be used for fire and air attacks against Iranian targets.

The framing reverses the position taken by the Arab states, which have publicly maintained that they did not permit hostile use of their territory against Iran during the war.

Iran had exercised its legitimate right to self-defence under the UN Charter in responding to attacks, the envoy said. The Islamic Republic had not initiated the conflict or military operations and was not the party that started the war, the response said.

Tehran has not provided independently verifiable evidence to substantiate its claim that the six Arab states actively facilitated US or Israeli operations against Iranian territory during the 40-day conflict.

The Iranian missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Iraq during the war prompted the joint Arab approach to the Security Council.

The countries that participated in this aggression, or permitted the use of their bases, airspace, waters and territories to carry out attacks against Iran, were responsible and must be held accountable, the envoy said.

The envoy criticised the UN Security Council's failure to condemn the aggression and identify the aggressor party, saying the inaction had encouraged further hostile actions.

Iran called on Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Jordan to assume full responsibility for compensating Iran for damages incurred.

The compensation claim is unlikely to gain traction at the Security Council, where Resolution 2817 condemned the Iranian attacks on Gulf and Arab states in the strongest terms and described them as a breach of international law and a threat to international peace and security.

Saudi Arabia hosted a GCC consultative summit in Jeddah on April 28, at which member states reaffirmed their categorical rejection of the use of their territories as a platform for any hostile actions against Iran. The summit also welcomed UN Security Council Resolution 2817.

The Iranian compensation demand forms part of a broader diplomatic pattern in which Tehran has sought to recast the war narrative, including a three-stage negotiating framework reported by Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen on April 27 and parallel claims by senior Iranian officials that European powers had withdrawn military support for Washington during the conflict.