Hyderabad: Iran says Hamas is ready to release civilian prisoners abducted from Israel and is stressing that the international community must take responsibility for releasing 6,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. It also warned the US will have to face consequences if genocide in Gaza continues, accusing the United States of directly participating in the Israeli-Hamas war and what he called a “genocide” against Palestinians.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was addressing an emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly on Thursday that Iran “stands ready to play its part in this very important humanitarian endeavor, along with Qatar and Turkey.”
Iran is a key backer of Hamas, and Qatar has already played a key role in the release of four Israeli civilians, among the more than 200 taken captive.
He also issued a strong warning “against the uncontrollable consequences of the unlimited financial, arms and operational support by the White House to the Tel Aviv regime."
“I say frankly to the American statesman, who are now managing the genocide in Palestine, that we do not welcome to expansion of the war in the region,” Iran’s top diplomat said in English at the start of his remarks.
“But I warn, if the genocide in Gaza continues, they will not be spared from this fire,” Amir-Abdollahian said. “It is our home, and west Asia is our region. We do not compromise with any party and any side, and we have no reservation when it comes to our home security.”
He remarked that it has been three weeks that the international community has been a witness to the “war crime and genocide of the occupying Israeli regime in Gaza and the West Bank of Palestine.”
He said that the US and several European countries sided with Israel and they refer to the Palestinian liberation movement as "terrorists”.
“Unfortunately this is the state of our world today. This is the situation of the Security Council, which was supposed to try to establish world peace and security,” the Iranian Minister said.
He called on the US to work for peace and security and not war against people, women and children, stating “instead of sending rockets, tanks and bombs, to be used against Gaza, the United States should stop supporting genocide in Gaza and Palestine.”
Russia, Iran officials discuss Israel-Hamas war in Moscow meet- A senior Iranian diplomat discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip with a Kremlin Mideast envoy Thursday.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri met with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who serves as the Kremlin envoy for the Middle East.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said diplomats emphasized “the need for a cessation of hostilities in and around the Gaza Strip and the prompt provision of humanitarian assistance to the affected Palestinian population.”
It added that they also reaffirmed a shared commitment by Moscow and Tehran to “continue close coordination of efforts in the interests of stabilizing the situation in the Middle East.” (with AP inputs)
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