TEHRAN – Saeed Khatibzadeh, spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, has issued a statement marking the Quds Day which falls on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan. 

In the statement, which was published in Arabic, the spokesman reiterated Iran’s vision for a solution to the Palestinian question. He said the basic solution to the Palestinian question is the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland and the holding of a general referendum among the aboriginal people of Palestine. 

“This year, we welcome the International Quds Day on the last Friday of the blessed month of Ramadan in circumstances in which the liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque and occupied Palestine from the clutches of the usurper racist Zionist enemy has become more necessary and more important than ever before, as Jerusalem and Palestine have become the center of solidarity between all Muslims and the free people of the world,” Khatibzadeh said. 

He added, “The International Quds Day, which was established in the eternal calendar of the blessed month of Ramadan, at the historic initiative of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Eminence Imam Khomeini (may God have mercy on him), came to confirm that Quds is a factor of unity and solidarity for the Islamic world and the cause of Palestine is not only Islamic, but international par excellence.”

Khatibzadeh continued, “Today, the Muslims of the world are calling with one voice for the necessity of liberating Palestine as an unparalleled priority for the Islamic Ummah. And normalization efforts do not shake the solid will of the conscious living peoples. Therefore, all Islamic countries are required to assume their responsibilities in supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people and providing them with all the means of strength and protection. Nor can governments and international forums be indifferent towards these just demands and evade their legal and humanitarian responsibilities in this field.”

The spokesman stressed, “We emphasize that all political and media efforts undertaken by the Zionist entity will not succeed in removing the hideous, inhumane image of this entity, its terrorist nature, and its creed that is based on racial discrimination from the historical memory of the Islamic Ummah.”

He said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran, as it has always been, will remain a mighty fortress in confronting all the conspiracies of world Zionism, and in its insistence on commemorating and dedicating the International Quds Day, calling on the Islamic Ummah to unite on the path of liberating Palestine and defeating the occupation. Hence, it awakens all international institutions and all the free people of the world to harness their political, media and human rights energies to support the defenseless Palestinian people and the resistance in the face of the inhuman policies and practices of the Zionist entity throughout the occupied land of Palestine.”

He noted, “In conclusion, I would like to emphasize once again that the radical solution to the question of Palestine and to the liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque is the return of the Palestinian refugees to their motherland and the holding of a national referendum between the two indigenous inhabitants of this land.”