TEHRAN – The Leader of the Islamic Revolution told a high-ranking Islamic Jihad delegation on Tuesday that Americans will not be able to push Palestinians out of Gaza, calling U.S. president Donald Trump’s proposed plan idiotic and doomed. 

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said just like how Israel and Washington could not achieve their stated objective of Hamas’ elimination after 16 months of war in Gaza, they will once again fail to complete their sinister plots. “These foolish plans will not come to fruition. Those who claimed a year and a half ago that they would destroy the Resistance in a short time are now receiving their captives in small groups from Resistance fighters while releasing large numbers of Palestinian captives in return,” he told the Palestinian group in his humble office in Tehran.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that he will expel Gaza’s 2.1 million population and “take” the territory himself. What he has described about his ideal for the future of Gaza resembles a plan devised by a real estate investor, analysts have pointed out. Trump wants Jordan and Egypt to receive the Gazans after they are removed from the enclave, a request that has yet to be firmly dismissed by the two countries, as the U.S. has threatened to retaliate by cutting the economic aid Joran and Egypt receive annually from Washington.  

In his Tuesday meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the public around the world now sides with Palestinians, and that’s another reason why Israelis and their American backers would not be able to do anything the people of Gaza do not want. 

For his part, Islamic Jihad's Secretary-General Ziad al-Nakhala said the victory Palestinians achieved in Gaza after 16 months of fight against criminal Israeli forces could not have happened without the untrammeled support of Iran, and figures like Hezbollah’s late leader, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, who ended up giving his life away for Palestine. “The Resistance in Gaza was fighting not only Israel, but also the U.S. and the West. Thanks to your help we managed to win this disproportionate war,” he said to Ayatollah Khamenei. 
 
Nakhala mentioned the “synergy” and “unity” among Resistance forces scattered in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran as another reason for this victory. 

Throughout the meeting, Nakhala also filled in the Iranian Leader on the latest developments in the West Bank where Palestinians have been subject to increased violence from Israeli forces in recent weeks. He said Resistance fighters will not abandon their endeavors towards the freedom of Palestine. 

The meeting comes after Ayatollah Khamenei held a separate meeting with senior Hamas members earlier this month. He is the first regional leader to receive the two Palestinian groups after the fight in Gaza came to a halt in January.