Iran Seeks BRICS Role to Stop Israeli 'Crimes' in Gaza


TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iran called on the BRICS group of nations to take action to halt Israeli "crimes" against Palestinians, urging them to help send humanitarian aid to Gaza and support a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

"The manner and quality of role-playing of individual countries and international organizations in relation to the Israeli regime's crisis mongering and the position they adopt in this regard is effective and will be recorded in history," Iran's deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani said in Moscow on Thursday.

"Therefore, the members of the BRICS organization should show their political and practical will to completely stop attacks on people and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip."

Bagheri Kani urged BRICS to help with sending humanitarian aid like food, medical equipment and medicine to Gaza and enable the complete withdrawal of the occupying forces and the reconstruction of the besieged territory.

"At the moment, our focus should be on achieving a complete and permanent halt to the attacks of the Zionist regime in order to reduce the humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip, expand the sending of international humanitarian aid to Gaza, and provide firm support to the activities of humanitarian organizations, especially UNRWA," he said.

"Only taking a position and making a statement is not enough, and effective and decisive operational measures must be put on the agenda for the Zionist regime to comply with the wishes of the international community."

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) faces funding freezes after Israeli accusations its members participated in an October 7 operation, he said.

Bagheri Kani thanked South Africa for taking Israel to the International Court of Justice for "genocide" in Gaza, asking BRICS to strongly support the case and provide necessary legal solutions to deal with the crimes.

"The experience of the past 200 days of crime and aggression by the Zionist regime has shown that the Palestinian nation cannot be destroyed and the people of Gaza have proven that it is the Palestinian child who wins against the Israeli bomb," he said.

He said the "key to establishing stability and peace in the region from Lebanon to Iraq and the Red Sea is to stop the crimes of the Zionist regime against the defenseless and homeless people of Gaza".

Bagheri Kani dismissed attempts to justify Israeli actions as self-defense, saying "this justification of the supporters of the Zionist regime is completely invalid from a legal and international point of view".

He also referenced an Israeli attack on Iran's consulate in Damascus, saying "After the unprecedented and illegal crime, the Islamic Republic of Iran reserved the right of legitimate defense and the occupying regime received the response to its crime in Damascus in the occupied Palestinian territories."