Iran military chief: Liberation of al-Quds number one priority of Muslim world

Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri made the remarks in a statement addressed to the Muslim world’s defense ministers and army chiefs that was published on Thursday. The message concerned US President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of the long-awaited outline of a US scheme purportedly seeking to remedy the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that his administration has controversially dubbed “the deal of the century.”

General Baqeri sternly warned about the implications of any laxity or silence in the face of the oppressive plot, urging Muslim nations to focus their efforts on healing their differences on the basis of Islamic guidelines amid the situation.

“The Muslim world’s first priority is liberation of the Palestinian nation and liberation of the Noble Quds, which is Muslims’ First Qibla (the direction towards which Muslims stand when saying their prayers),” he said.

Washington had announced the plan — a brainchild of Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner and other key pro-Israeli figures, years ago — but had withheld the details. Trump announced the general provisions of the scheme on Tuesday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side and in the absence of whatever representative from the Palestinian sides, which have already dismissed the deal.

Trump outlines contentious Palestine scheme, says Quds will be Israel’s ‘undivided capital’Trump repeats his hugely-controversial endorsement of occupied Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” as he outlines his administration’s self-styled Mideast plan.

The US president repeated his hugely-controversial endorsement of al-Quds Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided capital,” although Palestinians have historically wanted the city’s eastern part as the capital of their future state.

He said the deal featured an economic portion that earmarks $50 billion in monetary allocations to Palestinians, Jordan, and Egypt. Palestinians have denounced this as a means of bribing them into selling their rights.

Still contentiously, Trump said that the settlers, who have been housed in illegal settlements built on occupied Palestinian land, would not be moved under the deal.

The US president, meanwhile, alleged that Israel would be freezing its settlement activities for four years “while Palestinian statehood is negotiated.” Tel Aviv has never fully committed to such freezes, causing any negotiation process to break down.

Hamas leader: Palestinians will not forgive those who accept US plan Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, has warned Arab leaders against endorsing President Donald Trump’s recently-unveiled Middle East scheme.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Iran’s top general said, “By divine Grace, not only will the deal of the century fail to materialize, but it will also expedite Israel’s perdition and annihilation by putting the regime through a monumental vortex.”

He called the announcement “a historic and strategic error,” which seeks to pursue the main part of “Zionists’ 70-year-old defeated project in the region,” namely occupation of Palestine.

Iran’s military chief noted that the scheme violated the sovereignty of an oppressed nation, and amounted to “declaration of war against its territorial entity and existence.”

Baqeri finally warned that any tacit agreement, inaction, negligence, or double standard approach in the face of the plot threatened to subject other Muslim countries to a yet larger scheme targeting their independence and national sovereignty.