(Reuters) – President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian reaffirmed Iran’s anti-Israel stance on Monday, saying that resistance movements across the region will not allow Israel’s “criminal policies” toward the Palestinians to continue.
“The Islamic Republic has always supported the resistance of the people of the region against the illegitimate Zionist regime,” Pezeshkian said in a message to Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, supported by Iran.
The comments did not signal any change in the regional policies of the new government under the relatively moderate Pezeshkian, who defeated his hardline rival in last week’s second round of elections.
“I am certain that the resistance movements in the region will not allow this regime to continue its warmongering and criminal policies against the oppressed people of Palestine and other nations in the region,” Pezeshkian said, according to Iranian media.
Shiite Muslim Hezbollah and Palestinian Sunni Muslim Hamas are part of a group of Iranian-backed factions in the region known as the Axis of Resistance.
Israel did not immediately comment on Pezeshkian’s remarks.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began after the Islamic militant group that rules the Palestinian enclave led an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli records.
More than 38,000 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s military offensive and almost 88,000 were injured, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
(Written by Dubai Newsroom, Eidting by Timothy Heirtage)
