TEL AVIV – The Iranian Army on Wednesday slammed Arab leaders for their “betrayal” of the “great nation of Palestine” for staying silent in the face of President Donald Trump’s “aggressive” Jerusalem move, and added its hope that “the world will witness the collapse” of Israel “very soon.”
The statement, which was published in the semi-official state news agency Mehr, came ahead of Friday’s Quds Day, an annual event held on the last Friday of Ramadan in Iran. “Quds” is the Arabic word for Jerusalem.
“Unfortunately, some Arab leaders in the region have betrayed the great nation of Palestine by staying silent against the U.S. aggressive and adventurous move [in relocating its embassy to Quds] and establishing ties with the Zionist regime,” the army’s statement said, adding, “but they must know that the nations of the world are watching them and history will remember [their betrayal].”
In the statement Israel is referred to as a “cruel regime.”
“Quds Day is the day of solidarity, unity and sympathy of Muslim nations with the oppressed Palestinian people against the evil conspiracies of the Zionist regime and America,” the statement explained.
“The International Quds Day marks opposition to occupation, bullying and genocide against the oppressed people of Palestine and opposition to evil powers,” the statement said.
Mehr cited the statement as saying “that after the terrorist groups in the region are defeated, the Zionist regime has intensified its crimes, predicting ‘God willing, the world will witness the collapse of this cruel regime very soon.'”
On Thursday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for the Muslim masses to take to the streets and protest the “tyrants” in honor of Quds Day.
“Quds Day is a historic day as everybody protests against tyrants and voices support for the oppressed (Palestinian) people who have been displaced from their homes for 70 years,” Rouhani said.
Rouhani added that this year the rallies would take on the additional mission of protesting Trump’s decision to relocate the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
In a separate statement Thursday, Iran’s foreign ministry called for Muslims to band together against what it called Israel’s “war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied territories.”
Palestinians are planning the largest turnout in history for Quds Day, with organizers claiming that a million people will join rallies against Israel in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official, Brig. Gen. Yadollah Jawani, was quoted by Mehr as saying that any U.S. or Israeli military action against Iran would face a “swift and decisive response, and the main losers will be the aggressors.”
“Western countries, particularly Americans and Zionists, have been trying for years to use threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran as a means to impose their will on the Iranian people, but they basically are not able to carry out their threats against the Iranian people, and the main reason for their inability is the might of [the] nation and armed forces to respond to any possible aggression,” Jawani claimed.