uesday, 23 April 2024 4:49 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 23 April 2024 4:53 PM ]
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi speaks at the Government College University (GCU) of Lahore, Pakistan's Punjab, on April 23, 2024.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi has issued a stern warning against any Israeli aggression on the Iranian soil, saying the occupying regime will face a devastating response in case of another mistake.
Raeisi raised the alarm in a meeting with Pakistan’s cultural and academic elites in the Government College University (GCU) of Lahore in the central province of Punjab on Tuesday.
He pointed to Iran’s retaliatory strikes on the Israeli-occupied territories on April 13 in response to the regime’s earlier aggression on its diplomatic compound in Syria.
Stressing that Iran had punished Israel for its attack on the Islamic Republic’s consulate building in Damascus, which was against all international laws, conventions and the United Nations Charter, Raeisi said, “If the Zionist regime commits another mistake and launches an aggression on Iran’s soil, the situation will be different and it is not clear what will remain of this regime.”
In the multi-pronged Operation True Promise, Iran launched late on April 13 hundreds of drones and missiles at the occupied territories in response to the regime's aggression on the consular section of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Embassy in the Mezzeh neighborhood of the Syrian capital on April 1.
The Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus had killed two generals of the Quds Force of IRGC, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, as well as five of their accompanying officers.
A senior Iranian Army commander has warned of a crushing response to any adversarial transgression on the Islamic Republic’s red lines.
West’s human rights advocacy ‘absurd’
Pointing to Washington’s unwavering support for Israel’s months-long war on the besieged Gaza Strip, the Iranian president said, “The American and western support of killing and wounding more than 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza attests to the fact that, today, the biggest violators of human rights are Americans and Westerners, and their advocacy for human rights is absurd.”
Raeisi described Palestine as the prime issue of the Muslim world as well as mankind, and underlined that the Palestinian resistance will finally succeed in liberating Palestine, Gaza and the occupied al-Quds.
“Today, the Iranian nation is standing up against the Zionist regime’s corruption, excessive demands and oppression, and will continue to do so,” Raeisi said. “The nations of both Iran and Pakistan have been the defenders of the oppressed Palestinian nation and will continue that path with pride.”
Israel began the brutal US-backed war on Gaza on October 7 after the Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out a historic operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Israeli artillery shelling struck Jabaliya and Beit Hanoun, causing panic among residents, locals said.
Consolidation of cultural ties
In a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, President Raeisi praised the historical bonds between Iran and Pakistan and said his trip to Lahore was aimed at strengthening cultural ties.
“The purpose of my visit to Lahore is to pay respect to the late Iqbal Lahori and to strengthen the cultural relations between the two countries because Lahore is considered a cultural symbol of Pakistan,” Raeisi said, referring to Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the Muslim poet known as Iqbal Lahori.
Stating that the relations between the two countries have been growing since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Raeisi said the will of the leaders of the two countries to expand cooperation has rendered ineffective the efforts of certain countries to damage the friendly relations between Tehran and Islamabad.
Describing the exchange of various mutual capacities as the basis for securing Iran-Pakistan’s interests and increasing the power of the two countries, the Iranian president said there was no obstacle to the expansion of relations between Tehran and Islamabad.
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