Iran: US should stop arming Israel to bring about cease-fire in Gaza
Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said if the United States is determined to help end the “bloodshed” in Gaza, it should stop providing the Israeli regime with military aid.
The US cannot lead a political initiative with a peaceful image while providing the Israeli regime with the most advanced weapons, the Iranian official said in a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Baghdad.
The US President Joe Biden has unveiled a multi-phased cease-fire plan for the Gaza war, which has been supported by the United Nations Security Council.
This comes despite the fact that the US has been providing the regime with arms, and time and again supported Tel Aviv in the international bodies since the beginning of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza in October last year.
Only two US military sales to Israel have been made public. But US media have reported that Biden’s administration has quietly made more than 100 military sales to Israel. The US is the biggest arms supplier to Israel, providing an estimated 68% of the regime’s foreign-sourced weapons.
During the press conference on Thursday, Iran’s acting foreign minister underlined that the genocide in the Gaza Strip should end as soon as possible, saying that cooperation of regional and Muslim countries can be helpful in this regard.
Israel waged its bloody Gaza offensive on October 7, 2023 after the Palestinian resistance group Hamas carried out its historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
So far, the regime has killed more than 37,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in the Gaza Strip.
War on Lebanon
During a separate press conference with Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji, Bagheri Kani cautioned Israel against waging a war on Lebanon, saying any such aggression is like going to “hell with no return.”
“Lebanon will be hell with no return for the Zionists, and if they are wise, they will not try Lebanon again,” Bagheri Kani said.
Israel’s “unbelievable defeats” began in Lebanon in 2000 and 2006, he added, referring to the two wars between fighters of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement and the Israeli military.
The top Iranian diplomat said the balance of power has changed since October 7, when the Hamas carried out the surprise operation against the occupying entity.
“The Zionists want to return conditions to those before October 7 by killing the people of Gaza, but to no avail,” he said.
Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging deadly fire since early October, shortly after latter launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following the Hamas operation.
The reprisal attacks were shifted up several gears on Tuesday after Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike on the southern Lebanese town of Jwaya.