Iran FM Zarif Urges OIC to Defend Palestine Instead of Gladdening Israel

Zarif told reporters, on the sidelines of the International Quds Day rallies in Tehran this morning, that it is better for the OIC to support Quds instead of repeating nonsense claims like those of the last night against Iran.

“The message of the International Quds Day is that Quds is not for sale, neither is it a property of the US to bestow it to Israel,” the Iranian diplomatic chief underlined, and added, “Also the Zionist regime is not entitled to have any claim about Quds.”

“Quds belongs to Muslims and the people of Palestine. Nobody is allowed to give up the first Qibla of the Muslims to Israel and Zionists or do anything else [about it] because it will mar the cause of Palestine,” he stressed.

“It is a petty that a handful of Arab kings, to save themselves and reach their goals, are of the illusion that they will meet their dream if they side with [Israeli Prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” he said regretting the secret alignment of some Arab monarchs with Israel.

“How can Netanyahu and the Zionist regime, who have not been able to keep Israel safe with even the Iron Dome, protect these countries,” the top diplomat said, warning the Arab allies of Tel Aviv.

“The OIC meeting to be held in Mecca today had better do what it has been created for, i.e. supporting Quds, instead of repeating non-sense claims, like those articulated against Iran last night, which please Israel,” Zarif highlighted.

Earlier today, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi also condemned the unfounded anti-Tehran claims made in the final statement of Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia, urging the monarch and its allies to get united for defending the rights of Palestinians.

Mousavi condemned and rejected the unfounded claims in an anti-Iran statement released by Arab countries that were gathered for an emergency meeting in Saudi Arabia on Friday.

He added that Iran is certain that such hostile statements do not reflect the views of all members taking part at the meeting.

Instead of using the opportunity of the International Quds Day to pursue the rights of the Palestinian people, the summit hosted by Saudi Arabia followed the wrong strategy of creating discord among regional and Muslim countries, which is what the Israeli regime wants, added Mousavi in the statement.

“We consider Saudi Arabia’s attempt to rally neighboring and Arab countries [against Iran] as the continuation of a futile process that the United States and the Zionist regime are pursuing against the Islamic Republic,” he stressed.

Mousavi further voiced hope that Saudi Arabia’s shortcomings in supporting the Palestinian cause, as well as the wrong approaches of certain Muslim countries in the region, would be countervailed at the OIC meeting in Mecca.

“The long-standing goal of the Zionist regime is to distract the Muslim and Arab countries from their main and common enemy,” the Iranian diplomat reminded.

In a gathering in Makkah (Mecca) early on Friday, the Arab League heads of nations issued a final communique accusing Iran of being involved in the sabotage operation against four oil tankers off the coast of the UAE in last week.

Iraq, which has good ties with neighboring Iran, said it objected to the Arab communique, which stated that any cooperation with Tehran should be based on “non-interference in other countries”.

An hour after the issuance of the final statement of the event, Advisor to the Iranian Parliament Speaker Hossein Amir Abdollahian blasted Riyadh’s efforts for holding regional meetings to line up against Iran, calling on the kingdom to be honest and practically involved in defending the cause of Palestine.

“Rather [than] addressing Quds liberation and Palestine, Saudis convene ungenuine OIC Makkah Summit, Arab League and the PGCC summits for political face-off with Iran,” Amir Abdollahian said in a tweet in early this morning.

“Tehran believes in logic and action, not show-off. Iran and [its] allies powerfully defeated Takfiri, Wahabbi, [and] Zionist terrorism in the region,” he went on saying, bringing up Tehran’s practical measures in countering terrorism in the region.

On Thursday, the Iranian foreign ministry issued a statement, asking all Muslims across the world to unite against the US-sponsored “Deal of Century”.

The Iranian foreign ministry called on Islamic nations to form a united front against the plots hatched by the Israeli regime to sow discord among Muslims and divert attention from the Palestinian cause.

The ministry warned against a US-devised plan to be unveiled on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a related Washington-led conference in Bahrain in June, saying the plan, if implemented, will be an “eternal loss” for Palestine and a major gain for its occupiers.

 “The current circumstances in Palestine and the region require Muslim nations and governments to maintain their unity, solidarity and integrity against the Zionist regime more than ever,” the statement said.

“While exercising maximum vigilance against this common enemy, Muslim countries need to resist the conspiracies (hatched) by the regime and its supporters to create division in the ranks of the Muslim Ummah and make the issue of Palestine — the top priority in the Muslim world — slip into oblivion,” the statement said.

Iran believes that the establishment of lasting peace and stability in the region will not be fulfilled without the restoration of the rights of the innocent Palestinian nation, it said.

This will be achieved, the statement said, through the return of Palestinian refugees to their motherland and holding of a referendum with the participation of all the real residents of this territory.

The ministry further called for a huge turnout in International Quds Day rallies on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.

The International Quds Day is an annual event opposing Israel’s occupation of Beitul-Muqaddas. Anti-Zionist rallies and demonstrations are held on the last Friday of Ramadan in Muslim and Arab countries around the world, specially in Iran, as well as a large number of non-Muslim states.

The International Quds Day was started by the late Founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, in 1979 as a way of expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and underscoring importance of the holy Quds to Muslims.