‘At least cut off…’: Iran’s Khameini’s appeal to Islamic nations amid Gaza war

“Islamic governments should at least cut off political ties to Israel for a limited time,” Khamenei said on November 19, while attending a military exhibition in Tehran.

Khamenei also slammed those Islamic nations that have failed to condemn Israel for the alleged excesses its forces have committed in Gaza.

“Some Islamic governments have condemned Israeli crimes in assemblies while some have not. This is unacceptable,” the state media quoted Khamenei as saying. 

The top Iranian leader also reiterated that Islamic governments should cut off Israel from their goods and energy, news agency Reuters reported.

Khamenei’s remarks comes days after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s proposal for wide-ranging sanctions on Israel did not find an appeal among the majority of Islamic nations. The proposal was made by Raisi during a joint summit of the Organisational for Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League in Riyadh on November 11.

Saudi Arabia, considered as the de-facto leader of the Muslim world, along with its neighbour the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was among the countries that had blocked a proposal moved at the Islamic-Arab summit to snap all ties with Israel, a report had said.

The proposal was to sever all diplomatic and economic relations with Tel Aviv, deny Arab airspace to Israeli flights and that the oil-producing Muslim countries should “threaten to use oil as a means of leverage” to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, The Times of Israel had reported Ehud Ya’ari, the Arab affairs analyst of Israeli news platform Channel 12, as saying.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued today, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the country’s Axis of Resistance was “cleverly adjusting pressure” on Israel. “Resistance groups still have inactivated capacity (for pressure on Israel),” Reuters quoted him as saying. The Axis of Resistance includes Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

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Updated: 19 Nov 2023, 07:54 PM IST