Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday called on Muslim countries to cease oil and food exports to Israel, demanding an end to Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. “The bombings on Gaza must stop immediately… the path of oil and food exports to the Zionist regime should be stopped,” Khamenei said in a speech, according to Iranian state media. Israel has been pounding the coastal enclave since Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel on October 7, killing 1,400 people, most of them civilians. The Israeli campaign has triggered a siege of Gaza and killed 8,500 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to Palestinian authorities.
The clerical rulers of Iran have long backed the Palestinian cause, a crucial part of their drive to make the Islamic Republic into a significant regional power and a fundamental tenet of Shi’ite Islam. They say the United States, which backs Israel, is complicit in its recent escalation of aggression against the Palestinians. Khamenei’s aide Hossein Amirabdollahian told the emergency General Assembly session that the United States has provided unlimited financial, arms, and operational support to Tel Aviv’s war against the Palestinians, which he described as a “genocide.”
Israel, which has vowed to wipe out Tehran-backed Hamas, which rules Gaza, argues that the conflict is not over a Gaza raid but about Iran’s support for terrorism in the region. Iran has dismissed those claims as hypocritical, saying it does not support terrorism. Still, it supports the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian nation for its inalienable rights, including self-determination and an independent state on its lands with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Iran has been urging its allies to join it in backing the Palestinians, with Syria’s ally Russia also playing a role. Its spokesman has accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza and said the United Nations should condemn its actions, as well as those of its allies.
The UN has already condemned Israel’s campaign, which has left 239 people dead, including dozens of civilians, and the US ambassador to the body accused Israel of a “bloodbath” with a “destructive” policy.
Khamenei’s call to the world came as Iranian diplomats were meeting with representatives of Arab countries on a conference aimed at breaking Israel’s blockade of Gaza. He said the international community must put pressure on Israel and Hamas to immediately halt the attacks and allow a free passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza. He also warned against imposing further sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, a claim that was rejected by Western powers.
