Pezeshkian made the remarks during a meeting with a delegation from the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in Qatar on Wednesday. The meeting followed Iran’s military operation dubbed True Promise II against Israeli targets.
The president criticized Western nations for making “empty promises”, saying they asked Iran to exercise restraint in response to Israel’s assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, in Tehran in July, in exchange for a ceasefire and the end of Israeli genocide in Gaza.
“The continuation of the Zionist regime’s crimes made the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran give a decisive response,” Pezeshkian added.
He condemned Israel’s atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon, calling out the United States and Western countries for supporting Israel while claiming to champion democracy and human rights. He argued that these countries talk about human dignity but are complicit in backing a criminal regime, as they are completely alien to these concepts.
“People’s lives, especially those of women and children, are of no value to them, and all their claims are lies.”
The Iranian president called for greater unity among Muslim nations, stressing that disunity had allowed Israel to continue its crimes in Palestine and Lebanon.
“If Muslims were united, the Zionist regime wouldn’t dare commit such crimes,” he stressed.
On Tuesday, Iran launched a barrage of missiles on Israeli military and intelligence facilities in a retaliatory operation, setting off sirens in several areas of the occupied Palestinian territories. Flares and missiles were visible in Tel Aviv’s sky, with explosions reported in other areas.
The Iranian operation was carried out in response to the assassinations of several key figures, including Haniyeh, Hezbollah’s Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, and Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC).
Khaled Meshaal, former Hamas chief and current leader of the group’s diaspora office, attended the meeting with Pezeshkian. He praised Iran’s military operation, calling it a significant achievement that revitalized the resistance front’s deterrence capabilities.
Meshaal added that the blood of resistance leaders would lead to the final victory for the Palestinian people and emphasized that coordinated efforts would eventually bring an end to Israel’s aggression in Gaza.
