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Iran tells South Africa it supports any initiative to end Israel genocide in Gaza

Tuesday, 30 July 2024 9:12 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 30 July 2024 9:12 AM ]

Iran's interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani (R) shakes hands with South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola in Tehran on July 29, 2024. (Photo by the Iranian Foreign Ministry)

Interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has expressed Iran’s strong support for any initiative aimed at countering Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

He made the remarks on Monday during a meeting with South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola, who is in Tehran to attend Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony.

Bagheri Kani praised Lamola as a “brave and innovator diplomat” who has followed up the case filed with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the Zionist regime’s war crimes in Gaza.

He also hailed the South African government’s efforts at international legal and judicial bodies in condemnation of Israel’s atrocities.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran backs any initiative and measure in the international arena meant to support the oppressed people of Palestine, and to confront and condemn the Zionist regime’s genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza,” he added.

Bagheri Kani further emphasized the importance of continued cooperation between Iran and South Africa in international and multilateral mechanisms, such as the BRICS group of emerging economies, to defend the rights of independent countries and the Palestinian people.

South Africa’s top diplomat, for his part, expressed his country’s keenness to boost economic, commercial and cultural ties with Iran, and develop interactions within the frameworks of the ICJ and the International Court of Justice (ICC).

He also called for enhanced Tehran-Pretoria consultations in the fight against the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

ICJ orders Israel to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza

The United Nations

South Africa lodged a complaint against Israel in the ICJ last year, asking judges at the United Nations’ top court to declare that the occupying regime was committing genocide in Gaza.

The court found it plausible that Israel’s acts could amount to genocide and issued an initial ruling ordering Israel to refrain from acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention.

Israel unleashed its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after the Hamas resistance group carried out its historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the Tel Aviv regime has so far killed at least 39,363 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 90,923 others.

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