Iran among ‘loudest voices’ against zionist ‘israeli’ crimes in Gaza: Interim FM

Ali Bagheri Kani made the remarks in an opinion piece published in the Turkish Milliyet newspaper on Saturday, as more than eight months of the brutal Israeli onslaught has killed a shocking number of people in Gaza and led to famine in the besieged Palestinian territory.

“Over the past eight months, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been one of the loudest voices against the Zionist regime’s bloodshed against the oppressed people of Palestine and has tried to stop this invasion and genocide as soon as possible,” the top diplomat said.

He said Israel has “no qualms” about committing the most serious international crimes against Palestinians during its “full-scale Gaza genocide.”

He also expressed regret that the international community has failed to take an effective measure against the occupying regime’s heinous atrocities, which are being perpetrated under the support of Western states, especially the United States.

“We are aware of our responsibility as a member of the international community, the United Nations and the Islamic world, and we have used and will use every opportunity and way to help Gaza.”

On Saturday, Bagheri Kani attended an extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers of the Developing Eight (D-8) Organization for Economic Cooperation on Israel’s aggression against Gaza, in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

In his opinion piece, the Iranian interim foreign minister underlined the need for the D-8 member states to take practical steps aimed at alleviating the suffering of the defenseless people of Gaza, and explore ways to stop Israeli attacks and rebuild Gaza.

He further noted that the root cause of the ongoing crisis is the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands by the Zionist regime, and that there would be no sustainable peace without upholding the Palestinians’ rights.

In an interview at the end of the D-8 meeting, Bagheri Kani said that all the participants believe that a more serious approach must be adopted against the Zionists and that their crimes “should not be tolerated anymore.”

During the summit, he added, Iran called for the cutting of political and economic relations with the Zionist regime and the boycotting of Israeli goods, as well as providing political and legal support for Palestine and its resistance in national and international conventions.

Israel waged its bloody Gaza offensive on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out its historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 36,801 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 83,680 others in the Gaza Strip.