Tehran, Nov 1 (FN Agency) The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called on Muslim states to impose comprehensive sanctions on Israel and stop exporting oil to Israel to pressure it to stop its attacks against Gaza. The ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kanaani, who accompanied Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on a visit to Doha, made the remarks in an address to reporters in the Qatari capital, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Kanaani said the Muslim world was expected to use its capabilities and numerous tools, such as economic sanctions, to put Israel under pressure and against Israel and its supporters, chief of whom was the United States.
Commenting on the meetings between the Iranian foreign minister and Qatari officials in Doha, Kanaani said the two countries’ top agenda were achieving a ceasefire in Gaza, stopping Israeli attacks against the coastal enclave and sending humanitarian aid to it. Kanaani emphasized that the relevant parties should be informed that the situation was on the verge of getting out of control, underlining the importance Iran attached to reaching a truce in Gaza as a humanitarian priority.
He said the U.S. government, in addition to Israel, was among the main obstacles to a ceasefire in Gaza, adding Washington vetoed proposed resolutions in the UN Security Council that called for a humanitarian truce in the coastal enclave. Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets and infiltrating Israeli territory, to which Israel responded with massive airstrikes, ground operations, and punitive measures, including a siege on the Gaza Strip with supplies of water, electricity, fuel, and other necessities being cut off. The Israel-Hamas conflict has killed more than 8,500 Palestinians in Gaza and at least 1,400 people in Israel, according to official figures from both sides.