The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the renewal of Shaheed’s mandate is a sign of “animosity” toward the Islamic Republic which has been done with “political purposes”.

The 47-member Human Rights Council approved the resolution by a 20-15 vote, with 11 countries abstaining.

“Iran considers the renewal of the mandate of the Iran special rapporteur as unnecessary and legally unjustified,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in a statement.

Jaberi Ansari said Iran is against “selective approach and instrumental use” of human rights for “special political purposes” in independent countries and has openly declared its opposition in this regard.

According to CNSNews.com, Shaheed received the backing of mainly European and Latin American countries, in addition to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Algeria, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, along with Cuba, Russia, China, Vietnam, Burundi, Kenya, India and South Africa opposed with the renewal of Shaheed’s mandate.

Iran got significantly more support now than it did at the time the special rapporteur mandate was first established in 2011, when the measure passed by a 22-7 vote, with 14 abstentions.

Jaberi Ansari said the architects of the resolution with a support of countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, which “systematically” violate the rights of women and immigrants and flout the “basic “political rights” of their citizens, especially the critics, and “support terrorism and and extremism”, which have pushed the region and wider world toward “insecurity and killings”, clearly show that this resolution is “politically motivated”.

The Foreign Ministry official said closing eyes to the main violators of human rights have largely given rise to the spread of extremism and terrorism and its effects have been extended to Europe and other parts of the world.

“Soon or late Western countries will be held accountable by their nations for adoption of such discriminatory and illogical policies,” Jaberi Ansari predicted.