TEHRAN -- President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday denounced any attempts by regional countries to normalize relations with the occupying regime of Israel as “reactionary and regressive.”
The remarks come amid the ongoing U.S. push between the Zionist regime and Saudi Arabia to establish formal ties.
“Normalizing relations with the Zionist regime is a reactionary and regressive move by any government in the Islamic world,” Raisi says during an international Islamic conference held in Tehran.
Raisi said any normalization attempt is the “foreigners’ desire,” while adding that “surrender and compromise” regarding Israel are not on the table.
“The only option for all the fighters in the occupied land and the Islamic world is to resist and stand against the enemies,” he told the 37th International Islamic Unity Conference here.
President Raisi underlined that the liberation of the occupied Al-Quds is the “most important issue” in the Muslim world.
“Becoming united does not only mean unity of religions or geography, it rather means to express cohesion and solidarity to safeguard the interests of the Islamic Ummah,” he said.
The president described Muslim unity with adherence to the holy Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) as the secret of their victory throughout history.
Relying on foreigners and fulfilling their wishes is a “regressive” step, he added.
“The liberation of Al-Quds and Palestine is the most important indicator of the unity of the Islamic Ummah,” Raisi said.
“The way to confront the enemy is not through compromise and surrender but through resistance and resilience,” he noted.
“The option of surrender and compromise are by no means on the table; resistance and resilience against the enemy has paid off and will force the enemy to retreat.”
He praised the international conference on Islamic Unity in Tehran as an “anti-Zionism and anti-hegemony” event, saying that “today’s strategy of unity can fortify the Islamic Ummah against the enemy, and cohesion against its hybrid warfare.”
Raisi also called for further consolidation of the Islamic Ummah’s unity in the face of threats posed by takfiri terror outfits.
“The horrific crimes perpetrated by takfiri groups against mosques and religious centers, explosions in Pakistan and Afghanistan and massacre of people as well as crimes by the U.S. and the Zionist regime’s henchmen in various Islamic countries spurs promoting unity among the Islamic Ummah to confront the takfiri current,” he added.
Raisi called on Muslim scholars and thinkers to prepare themselves for assuming an important
role in the new world order by promoting cohesion, unity, and proximity of faiths.
“Muslims and the Islamic world must establish themselves in the new order, disrupt the current unjust order, and create a just order in the world,” he said, stressing that the Islamic Ummah will play a key role in the emerging world order.
Raisi said sacrilegious acts such as the desecration of the holy Qur’an and the Prophet, heinous crimes by takfiri terrorist groups, and normalization deals with the occupying regime as well as media campaigns spearheaded by the enemies are meant to deter the Islamic Ummah.
“The enemy intends to disappoint the Islamic Ummah about the future by propagating the idea that only everything it wants and wishes will happen, but the Islamic Ummah has foiled such plots,” the president added.
The 37th International Islamic Unity Conference kicked off in Tehran on Sunday with the participation of hundreds of guests from dozens of Islamic countries.
The annual conference is organized by the Iran-based World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought during the Islamic Unity Week which coincides with the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him).