Ayatollah Khamenei Urges Pressure on Israel

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has called for piling up pressure on the Israeli regime so that the issue of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip cannot be undermined.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in an address to a group of teachers and academics on the occasion of the National Teachers’ Day, which marks the martyrdom anniversary of Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari.

“Today, the issue of Gaza tops the world’s issues. At the international scene, the Zionists and their American and European supporters are doing whatever they can to cross out the issue of Gaza from the agenda of the world’s public opinion, but all in vain,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

The Leader pointed to the pro-Palestine protest by students in American and European universities, and said, "Nations have become sensitive to the Gaza issue as it is the world’s top one. We should not allow this issue to be removed from the world’s public opinion, and pressure must increase on the Zionist regime day by day."

Khamenei's remarks came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington is nearly ready with a security package to offer Saudi Arabia if it normalizes relations with Israel.

Saudi Arabia had been in talks over a potential normalization with Israel but they were paused when the Gaza war broke out.

Ayatollah Khamenei underlined that Palestine belongs to its “original owners” and normalization attempts will not calm the situation in the West Asia region.

“Palestine must return to its original owners. Palestine belongs to the Palestinian people, including Muslims, Christians and Jews,” the Leader said.

Iran does not recognise Israel and has made support for the Palestinian cause a centerpiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.