Iran has condemned in the strongest terms remarks by an Israeli minister regarding a plan to construct a synagogue inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied East al-Quds.

In a statement on Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kana’ani slammed Israel’s Itamar Ben-Gvir, who announced the plan a day earlier.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque is Islam’s third holiest site and a symbol of Palestinian identity.

“The cabinet of the criminal Zionist regime is determined to carry out its sinister agenda regarding the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the extent that it shamelessly declares its malevolent intention to build a synagogue within the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Kana’ani stated in a post on X.

It was the first time for the Israeli minister to openly speak about building a synagogue inside the complex, strengthening the narrative that the Muslim holy site and Palestinian national symbol is under threat from the occupying regime.

“If I could do anything I wanted, I would put an Israeli flag on the site,” Ben-Gvir said in an interview with Israel’s Army Radio. When asked by the interviewer whether he would build a synagogue within the site if it were up to him, he replied: “Yes.”

Ben-Gvir has repeatedly visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, despite a longstanding ban on Jews praying at the site.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, while strongly condemning such statements and schemes, warns against any infringement on the sacred boundaries of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and new provocations by the Zionists crossing the red lines of the Islamic Ummah,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman underscored.

Various countries and international organizations also reacted to the remarks by the Israeli minister.

The United Nations cautioned that his statement risks escalating the already tense situation.

Jordan vowed to pursue international legal measures to protect the holy site, while Qatar urged the international community to take immediate action

“In light of the awakening of pure human conscience and global hatred against crimes committed by Zionists, today Muslims and freedom-loving people around the world are united in their call to support Palestine and the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to prosecute the criminal Zionists,” Kana’ani stated.