US cannot make decisions for Gazans: Iran president

The Iranian president made the remark in a Sunday phone call with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

During the conversation, Raisi stressed that the US is “the killer of the people of Gaza” and any intervention by Americans in determining the future course of developments in the Palestinian territory “would mean continuation of this country’s crimes against Palestinians”.

Noting that Americans are accomplice in “the Zionist regime’s horrendous crimes and massacre of the oppressed people of Gaza,” Iran’s president said the US has no credit in the public opinion of nations.

“Americans have no right to intervene in any decision-making [process] for the people of Gaza and any step they take in this regard is doomed to fail,” Raisi continued.

He added, “The people of Gaza must [have the right to] make decisions about the future of Gaza through Hamas as the legitimate and legal government of this territory, which has been elected through people’s votes.”

The Hamas resistance movement was elected by the people of Gaza to form the government through a popular vote in 2006, which was held a year after the Israeli regime was forced to withdraw from the territory.

Following the regime’s recent devastating war on Gaza, some American officials have suggested that after the war, the territory should not be ruled by the movement.

Nearly 15,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s latest act of aggression against Gaza, which was launched through unwavering military and political support of the US.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian president touched on the country’s ties with Turkey, calling those relations “friendly, historical, and based on good neighborliness as well as religious values and common interests of the two nations.”

Raisi also described further expansion of the two countries’ cooperation and relations in various political, economic, and cultural fields as important, saying relations between Tehran and Ankara could serve as a “model of interaction” among Muslim countries.

For his part, Erdogan described bilateral relations as “favorable and constructive”, calling for their promotion to a “premium and exceptional” level.

The Turkish head of state also indicated Ankara’s readiness to hold a meeting of the two countries’ Supreme Economic Cooperation Council.