Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says a unified stance by the Muslim world could have prevented the Israeli regime, which is backed by its Western allies, from perpetrating unprecedented atrocities against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Raeisi made the remarks in a meeting with Abdullah bin Saud al-Anzi, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Tehran, while receiving his credentials on Tuesday.
The Iranian president pointed to the 75-year-long oppression of defenseless and innocent Palestinian people by the Israeli regime and stressed that the lack of a unified stance by Islamic countries resulted in the illegal entity’s relentless killings and aggression against Palestinians over the years.
“During the recent unprecedented crimes by the Zionist regime and its Western supporters in Gaza, a unified stance by the Islamic world could have, in a more effective way, prevented the Zionist regime’s oppression and aggression as well as excessive demands by its Western supporters,” Raeisi said.
Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, a surprise attack into the occupied territories in response to the occupying regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.
The Israeli attacks on Gaza have targeted places of gathering, including hospitals, schools, mosques and churches, displacing more than one million in the densely-populated region, which is home to more than 2.3 million people.
The Palestinian Health Ministry announced on Tuesday that the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip has so far reached more than 5,700 people and left over 16,000 others wounded.
More than 700 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes, the ministry added, the highest 24-hour death toll since Israel began its bombing campaign on Gaza.
The Gaza Strip, which is one of the most densely-populated places in the world, has been deprived of water, food and other basic supplies due to Israel’s total blockade.
Iran, Saudi Arabia should work to boost ties
Elsewhere in his remarks, Raeisi emphasized the necessity of efforts by diplomatic apparatuses of both Iran and Saudi Arabia to take advantage of the two countries’ capacities to strengthen mutual relations and secure the interests of regional nations and the Muslim world.
The Iranian president also censured the presence of extra-regional countries in West Asia, saying their presence in the region not only fails to solve any problems but it is itself a cause of exacerbating the problems.
Saud al-Anzi, for his part, hailed Iran-Saudi Arabia ties as “very strong” and called for strengthening mutual ties and cooperation.
“The relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are very strong as the ties and commonalities of the two nations and countries outweigh their differences,” he said.
The Saudi ambassador to Tehran underlined that the Islamic Republic has offered assistance to his country in many fields and issues, and expressed hope for an ever increasing improvement and expansion of relations and cooperation between the two countries.
