Palestinian cause cannot be solved solely with sympathy: Pezeshkian
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stresses that words of solidarity alone cannot solve the Palestinian cause amid inaction on the Gaza genocide.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, on September 24, 2024. (AP)
The Palestinian cause cannot be resolved solely through compassion and stands of solidarity, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday after returning to the country from the United States where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The support provided by the United States to the Israeli occupation is being used to "drop bombs on people's heads," Pezshkian said from the Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran.
The UNGA discussions, which are a part of the annual session held by the UN body, were "fruitful," he said, adding that he held talks with numerous heads of state on various important issues, including Palestine.
"Several world leaders have expressed their solidarity with Iran" during discussions on the sidelines of the UNGA, Pezeshkian said.
Pezeshkian told a roundtable of journalists in New York that "Israel" is attempting to provoke a larger war, explaining that "We know more than anyone else that if a larger war were to erupt in the Middle East, it will not benefit anyone throughout the world. It is Israel that seeks to create this wider conflict."
Pezeshkian alluded to "Israel's" assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and expressed that the West urged Iran not to respond, stressing, "We tried to not respond. They kept telling us we are within reach of peace, perhaps in a week or so."
"But we never reached that elusive peace. Every day Israel is committing more atrocities and killing more and more people -- old, young, men, women, children, hospitals, other facilities," Pezeshkian stressed.
"We always keep hearing, well, Hezbollah fired a rocket. If Hezbollah didn't even do that minimum, who would defend them?" he stated. "We keep being labeled as the perpetrators of insecurity. But look at the situation for where it is."
Pezeshkian accused Western powers of having double standards, claiming that violence "by one side is legitimate self-defense but it's terrorism and murder by the other."
