MM News

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Israel is “not a country, but a terrorist base”, and urged the Muslim community to fight it, as they marked an annual day of pro-Palestinian rallies on Friday.

On Iran’s annual Quds Day, in live televised remarks Khamenei said, “Israel is not a country, but a terrorist base against the Muslim nations and nation of Palestine.”

“Fighting this dictatorial rule is fighting oppression and terrorism, and (doing so) is everyone’s duty,” he added. Khamenei also stressed that “the decline of the enemy Zionist rule has begun and will not stop”.

He blasted Israel’s normalization of relation with “some weak Arab governments” as efforts to weaken “the nightmare of Muslim harmony,” calling on Palestinians to maintain their battle and for Muslim governments to support them.

Khamenei’s remarks came amid high tensions between the regional arch-foes, following a series of maritime attacks, an explosion at an Iranian nuclear facility and the assassination of a top nuclear scientist, which Tehran blamed on Israel.

Quds Day has been held annually since the early days of Iran’s Islamic revolution in support of Palestinians, although this year did not feature the usual countrywide rallies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, in spite of the limitations a number of people came out “spontaneously” in the capital Tehran, state TV said, showing the usual burning of flags and chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.

Since the 1979 revolution, the Islamic republic does not recognize the State of Israel, and supporting the Palestinian cause has been a pillar of Iran’s foreign policy.