TEHRAN- The U.S. rejection of a UN Security Council resolution demanding an urgent humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has been sharply denounced by Iran, which said that the action once again demonstrated Washington’s leading participation in the genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“The U.S. government once again proved that it is the main culprit and guilty party in the killing of civilians and Palestinian citizens, especially women and children, and destruction of vital infrastructure in Gaza,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement on Saturday. 

He went on to add that Washington has occasionally shown its affiliation and collaboration with the apartheid system in Israel in perpetrating “war crimes and genocide” against the Palestinian nation since the horrendous onslaught of the child-killing Israeli regime against Gaza commenced in early October.

Kanaani continued his vitriol and opprobrium of U.S. politicians for their false concern for the safety of civilians and children in Gaza, noting that the same U.S. officials were responsible for last week’s 200th delivery of U.S.-made weapons and military equipment to the Israeli military.

The U.S. military, political, intelligence, and media backing for Israel’s heinous atrocities against innocent Palestinians in the constrained Gaza Strip and throughout the occupied West Bank has also been blasted by the Iranian diplomat. 

“Undoubtedly, the U.S. administration is complicit in the savage killing of nearly 18,000 civilians, of whom some 8,000 are oppressed children. The U.S. and the Zionist regime must be held accountable for the repercussions of the intensification of the Gaza war across the region,” Kanaani stressed.

A draft resolution in the UN Security Council that called for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza was blocked on Friday by the U.S., using its right of veto.

The resolution, proposed by the United Arab Emirates, received 13 votes in favor, while the United Kingdom abstained.

The vote came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres publicly warned the 15-member council on Wednesday that the two-month-long war posed a global threat.

The U.S. and Israel are opposed to a ceasefire because they feel it would benefit mainly the Palestinian Hamas resistance group. 

Israel initiated the war on Gaza on October 7, following a surprise launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in reaction to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and suppression against Palestinians.

So far, Israeli violence has claimed the lives of at least 17,177 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children. Over 46,000 individuals have also been injured.