The world would be a better place without Israel, and Arab countries penning normalisation agreements with the country risk being overthrown by their own people, Iranian Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani has declared.
“Undoubtedly, the world will be safer without the Zionist regime. Those government officials that are seeking, with humiliation, to normalise relations with the fake Zionist regime and are helping to implement the US schemes in the region will not have a better fate than those of [overthrown Libyan and Sudanese leaders Muammar] Gaddafi and Omar al-Bashir,” Shamkhani said, speaking to Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Tehran on Tuesday, his remarks cited by Iran’s PressTV.
Pointing to the importance of the strategic relations between Iran and Syria, including in the fight against Israeli "aggression," Shamkhani also called on the international community to “stand firm against the actions of this inhumane regime in order to create a safe and peaceful world.”
US’ Oil Plunder
In his remarks, Shamkhani also attacked the US over its ongoing occupation of parts of north-east Syria, accusing Washington of keeping troops in the country to “plunder Syrian oil, maintain the security of the Zionist regime, and expand ISIL* terrorist cells in the region,” and demanding that the US’s “evil presence” in the region come to an end.
Mekdad arrived in Iran on Monday, making this his first foreign trip since his appointment last month after the death of his predecessor as foreign minister, Walid Muallem.
In his discussion with Shamkhani, Mekdad expressed gratitude for Iran’s assistance to Damascus in its fight against terrorism and foreign aggression, and said Syrians would never forget the sacrifices made by Iranian commanders and soldiers, including Qasem Soleimani, the Republican Guard Quds Force commander who was assassinated in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.
In addition to Shamkhani, Mekdad has met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
Roiling Tensions
Tensions between Iran and Israel escalated dramatically late last month after the 27 November assassination of a senior Iranian nuclear scientist. Iran almost immediately blamed Israel for the attack. Tel Aviv has issued no formal statement on the matter. However, Israeli officials have expressed fears that Iran may ‘retaliate’ by striking Israeli diplomatic missions, launching missile attacks or activating ‘proxies’ situated on Israel’s borders. Last week, Israel’s National Security Council warned that Israelis living in countries near Iran could be targeted. At the same time, an anonymous Israeli official told The New York Times that Tel Aviv should be “thanked” for killing the scientist.
* Also known as Daesh or ISIS, a terrorist group which once held wide swathes of territory in northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria. Outlawed in Russia and many other countries.