Iran FM: End to Israel’s war crimes in Gaza top, foremost priority

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says putting an end to the Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is of paramount priority.

Amir-Abdollahian made the remark in a meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in the capital Beirut on Friday during his second stop on a regional tour that has already taken him to Iraq.

He said the ongoing operation by the Palestinian resistance groups against Israel "was a move solely by Palestinians and a natural response to constant extremism of the Zionist regime."

The top Iranian diplomat slammed the United States and Europe for their contradictory approach in the face of Israel's crimes against the Palestinians.

Amir-Abdollahian said it is "unacceptable" that the US and Europe in effect approve the provocative nature of the Israeli regime under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Calling others in the region to exercise self-restraint on the one hand and providing full support for the usurping Israeli regime to continue its war crimes on the other is a contradictory behavior which violates the claim that they do not want to expand the scope of war and conflict."

He said Iran has proposed that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation hold an emergency session to discuss the Palestinian developments, and that Tehran supports initiatives of Muslim states in this regard.

Israel started its onslaught on October 7 after resistance groups launched multi-pronged Operation al-Aqsa Storm, the largest military operation against the occupying regime in decades. The Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million people, is under years-long siege by the Israeli regime.

Elsewhere in the meeting, Amir-Abdollahian hailed Lebanon's continuous support for resistance and said Iran supports efforts to improve security and political process in the Arab country. He said Iran attaches high priority to the maintenance of stability in Lebanon given its crucial position in the region.

For his part, the Lebanese parliament speaker hailed Iran's support and political initiatives to end Israel's aggression against the Palestinian people. He emphasized that all Muslim countries are duty-bound to support Palestinians.

Resistance absolute right of Palestinians in face of occupation: Amir-Abdollahian

The Iranian foreign minister also said on Friday that resistance is the absolute right of Palestinians in the face of Israeli occupation.

In a meeting in Beirut with a number of senior officials of the resistance movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Amir-Abdollahian said even some Western officials have confessed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm proved Palestine is alive.

He said the large-scale operation also exposed the fact that normalization of relations with the Israeli regime by certain countries would not help settle the Palestinian issue.

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