Iran, Iraq call for Gaza ceasefire; Raeisi says US, Europe encouraging genocide

Raeisi made the remarks at a joint press conference with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Tehran on Monday.

“We believe that the [Israeli] bombardments [against Gaza] must be stopped as soon as possible and a ceasefire must be established,” he said.

He emphasized the need to send aid to the “oppressed” yet “powerful” people of Gaza as soon as possible.

Israel waged a deadly war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity. The regime’s relentless bombardment of Gaza has killed at least 9,922 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

Israel has also cut off fuel, electricity, food and water to more than two million Palestinians living in Gaza.

The president further said Iran cooperates with and supports any measure by the Muslim, regional and international countries aimed at deterring the Israeli regime and the US from massacring the innocent people of Gaza.

Raeisi noted that Tehran and Baghdad have a common stance on the Palestinian issue.

The Iranian president rejected as “sheer lie” the US claims about sending aid to Gaza and announcing a ceasefire in the war-stricken strip, saying such claims do not match the Americans’ actions.

“Unfortunately, the US provides arms, intelligence and financial aid to the Zionist regime to brutally kill the Palestinian people and it actually encourages the [Israeli] regime,” he said.

The Iranian president noted that the US vetoed a draft resolution presented by Brazil to the United Nations Security Council on the establishment of humanitarian pauses in the war on the blockaded Palestinian territory.

This would in fact pave the way for the Israeli regime to carry out more acts of murder, he added.

The Iranian president emphasized that the US and other countries that support Israel are complicit in all the regime’s crimes.

Raeisi said the battle of the resistance front against Israel and the defeat it has inflicted on the regime have crumbled the Israeli regime.

He noted that Muslim nations and those regional and global countries that believe in God cannot justify their silence vis-à-vis the ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people.

Sudani, for his part, said Operation Al-Aqsa Storm was the outcome of Israel’s years of criminal policies against the oppressed people of Palestine which included the killing of civilians, forced displacement, illegal settlement and the desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Israeli regime has held the Gazan people inside a prison for many years while the international community has failed to implement its commitments and obligations in practice regarding the crisis in Gaza, the prime minister added.

He emphasized that those who seek to prevent the war spillover must push the Israeli regime to stop its crime and organized genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

Sudani said the sides that are carrying out acts of aggression against the people of Gazan must prevent a wider war in the region.

The premier added that Iran and Iraq seek to adopt a close stance on ways to exert pressure on influential countries to stop the bombing of Gaza and the killing of the Palestinian people as soon as possible.