TEHRAN – The Iranian delegation on Friday left the United Nations climate conference in the UAE in protest over the presence of the Israeli regime’s officials in the international event.

The Iranian diplomatic team, headed by Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian, visited the United Arab Emirates on Thursday to participate in the conference, known as COP28, as news had surfaced that Israel would not attend the meeting due to the strong pressure on the regime for its genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip which started on October 7.

“The leaders of about 150 countries had been invited to attend the COP 28, and assessments showed that a considerable number of the invitees, including the officials of the Zionist regime will not participate in the conference,” Mehrabian said while quitting the meeting.

The Zionist regime resumed its bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Friday morning after a week-long lull in exchange of fire to release prisoners.

The Israeli barbaric attacks on Gaza had killed more than 15,000, most of them children and women, before the one-week truce. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said Israel has turned the coastal enclave of Gaza into a “graveyard for children”.