Iran Stresses Israel’s Exit from Lands Occupied in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi called on the international community to block the Zionist regime’s attempts to annex the territories it has occupied, stressing that the Israeli forces must immediately withdraw from the soil of Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
The top Iranian diplomat delivered a speech to the 21st session of the Council of Ministers of D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, held in Cairo on Wednesday.
The following is the text of his statement:
Distinguished Chairman, Dear Brother, Minister Badr Abdelatty
Let me begin by extending my heartfelt congratulations to you and to the Arab Republic of Egypt for assuming the Chairmanship of the D8 Organization for Economic Cooperation in 2024 and 2025.
We are grateful to the great people and the Government of Egypt for warm hospitality extended to me and my delegation. This is always a pleasure for me to visit the historic and beautiful city of Cairo.
I also thank the Republic of Bangladesh for the able chairmanship of the D8 in the last few years.
Honorable fellow Ministers, His Excellency Imam, Distinguished D8 Secretary General,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We gather here to prepare for inshallah a successful D-8 Summit at the time when the Muslim world is still suffering from unprecedented cruelty of the Zionist regime in the last 15 months in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. The D8 was among the first groups of countries who condemned, in October 2023, Israel’s attack to Gaza. It was followed by an extraordinary meeting of D8 Council of Ministers on Gaza in June 2024 in Istanbul. The D8 Special Summit on Situation in Palestine and the Lebanon here tomorrow will be the latest testament of our brotherly countries to our continued joint commitment to fraternity, peace, dialogue, justice and rule of law across the region and the world, as envisaged in the D8 Charter.
The international community has embarrassingly failed to stop acts of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by the Zionist regime. This is largely attributed to the political, military, intelligence and financial support by the US administration to Israel. The Special D8 Summit tomorrow will hopefully send a strong message to the world that the Israeli aggressions and violations in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria shall be ended immediately; the Zionist regime and its allies shall be held accountable for their acts; a permanent ceasefire shall be established in Gaza to allow unhindered access of People of Gaza to humanitarian assistance; the Palestine Cause and the right of Palestinians to self-determination shall be realized; any attempt for land annexation by Israel shall be prevented; the Israeli forces shall immediately withdraw from occupied territories in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria; and last but not the least, that D8 countries are prepared to support Palestine and Lebanon to address economic and related challenges and problems resulted from the current situation.
Mr. Chairman,
Since this is not a regular Council session today, I will not touch in details issues of cooperation within D8 in my statement. The draft Cairo Declaration, as finalized by the D8 Commission on 16 December, presents a promising landscape for enhanced cooperation among our countries within the existing D8 frameworks for cooperation in areas of common interest. We believe that D8 shall focus more on the ways and means to make our economies and our peoples more resilient against the possible shocks in the future. The new and emerging technologies present unprecedented opportunities as well as challenges and risks in this regard.
To conclude, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate all efforts by your able team, the D8 Secretary General and his professional team, as well as D8 Commissioners for their excellent work done so far. I wish a very successful meeting today and a promising Summit tomorrow.
I thank you for your attention.
