Iran’s interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has lauded the resilience and steadfastness of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the face of the bloody Israeli military onslaught, stressing that the resistance has isolated the occupying Tel Aviv regime at the international level.
“When Operation al-Aqsa Storm was launched [by Gaza-based resistance groups on October 7], no country opted to break up relations with Israel. They even prepared the ground for the Zionist regime to normalize ties with other countries.
“But now a significant number of countries around the world, including those in Latin America, have cut off their economic and political relations with the Zionist regime,” Bagheri Kani said as he addressed worshipers at the weekly Friday Prayers in the capital Tehran.
The top Iranian diplomat described the Palestinian issue as a deep-seated belief, saying, “This explains why the resistance of Palestinians has not only managed to defeat the Zionists in the Gaza Strip, but has also put them in a tight corner in the fields of public diplomacy, media as well as legal affairs.”
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation, Operation al-Aqsa Storm, inside the occupied territories.
Bagheri Kani also pointed to Operation True Promise, through which Iran punished Israel over its attack on the Iranian consular sector in the Syrian capital, stressing that the regional countries view the retaliatory strikes as a legitimate response of Iran in defense of its national interests and security.
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“The Zionists could not have a single statement issued by international authorities and institutions in condemnation of Iran following Operation True Promise. This manifests the intelligence, prudence and sensible approach of late President Ebrahim Raeisi and [Foreign Minister Hossein] Amir-Abdollahian in foreign policy.”
He stated that late President Raeisi, who lost his life alongside seven others in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran on May 19, made very effective innovations and initiatives in the field of foreign policy ever since he took office on August 3, 2021.
One of his initiatives was the enhancement of relations with neighbors, because the policy of good neighborliness underlies the doctrine of the incumbent Iranian administration’s foreign policy, Bagheri Kani pointed out.
He underscorred that Tehran's policy of good neighborliness could also prove that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a guarantor of stability in the West Asia region.
“Over the past decades, the Americans have sought to isolate Iran among its neighbors through false allegations that the country seeks to promote instability and insecurity in the region. The appropriate foreign policy of the incumbent administration, however, prevented them from attaining their objective,” he added.