No one is immune from Israeli attacks unless regional states unite: Pezeshkian

The Iranian president was addressing an emergency meeting of Arab and Islamic countries in Doha in response to an Israeli airstrike on Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital last week.

Pezeshkian said the Israeli attack targeting the Hamas leadership was carried out with the intent to sabotage efforts to end the genocidal war in Gaza, which has killed at least 64,900 Palestinians since October 2023.

“This attack on diplomacy is more than a crime; it is a brazen and practical declaration that military power now prevails over law,” he said. 

Qatar has been a mediator in negotiations between Hamas and Israel. A senior Hamas negotiating team was discussing the latest US proposal for a ceasefire when Israeli warplanes struck their office on September 9.

The Iranian president said Israel will press ahead with its acts of aggression because it has the backing of the West. “History will remember the crime of supporters of this aggression,” he added.

“The Zionist regime has acted against our sovereignty and integrity, and we must stand up to it,” Pezeshkian said.

“Unfortunately, the terrorists ruling Tel Aviv have grown more emboldened by the impunity they felt after a similar betrayal of diplomacy and the launch of an aggressive war against the people of my country,” he said.

Pezeshkian was referring to a surprise Israeli attack on Iran that set off 12 days of war in June. The Iranian Armed Forces retaliated with waves of ballistic missile strikes, forcing the Israeli regime to accept a US-proposed ceasefire.

“In 2025, the Zionist regime has bombed several Muslim countries. Each of its attacks and acts of aggression is framed as ‘legitimate self-defense’, each time accompanied by Western double-speak and hollow condemnations,” he said.