Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the Occasion of International Quds Day – 2025

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

The last Friday of the blessed month of Ramadan was designated by the late Founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini (may peace be upon him), as “International Quds Day” to ensure that the usurpation of the historical land of Palestine—under a colonial conspiracy and the establishment of a racist, belligerent, and oppressive entity in the heart of the Islamic world—would not be normalized. Today, the rebellion of the Zionist regime, the suffering of the Palestinian people, and the legitimacy of the path of resistance in pursuit of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination are clearer than ever to the global public conscience.

It has now been eight decades since the occupation of Palestine and the deprivation of its people from their inherent and fundamental human rights, including the inalienable right to self-determination. During this time, the colonial project of erasing the Palestinian nation has persisted through the most horrific forms of mass killing and genocide. The apartheid Zionist regime’s objective, through decades of employing extreme violence, torture, and humiliation, has been the eradication of the spirit of resistance among Palestinians and throughout the Islamic world on the one hand, and the normalization of its crimes to force regional and global acquiescence to a world without Palestine, on the other.

In the past two years, following the Operation Al-Aqsa Storm—an eruption of the long-suppressed rage of the oppressed Palestinian nation and a testament to the enduring vitality of the spirit of resistance against the oppression and rebellion of the occupiers—the Zionist regime, emboldened by the full political, military, financial, and media support of the United States, has pursued the project of erasing Palestine with unprecedented intensity in the form of full-scale genocide. The massacre of over 50,000 innocent Palestinians, the vast majority of them women and children; the transformation of the entire Gaza Strip into rubble; the imposition of starvation and thirst on those who survived the bombardments; the total destruction of hospitals and medical centers; and the mass killing and detention of thousands in the West Bank have turned occupied Palestine into the very embodiment of unparalleled violations of all international legal norms, particularly those pertaining to human rights and international humanitarian law. Undoubtedly, all governments that have in any way provided military, financial, or political support to the Zionist regime—or obstructed the United Nations and other competent international institutions, including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, from taking effective action to halt the genocide and prosecute the Israeli war criminals—especially the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, are complicit in the crimes committed against the Palestinian people and must be held accountable before the tribunal of history and the conscience of humanity.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the full legitimacy of the Palestinian people’s resistance against occupation until the realization of all their human rights—including the right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds as its capital over the entirety of historical Palestine—reiterates the obligations of all states under international law, the Charter of the United Nations, international humanitarian law, the Genocide Convention, and other international human rights instruments to end occupation, apartheid, and genocide.
The Islamic Republic of Iran also condemns the continued support of the United States, the United Kingdom, and certain other European countries for the Zionist regime, which serves only to guarantee its impunity and facilitate the continuation of genocide and egregious breaches of international norms. The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms the responsibility of the international community—particularly the Islamic countries—to support and demonstrate verbal as well as practical solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine and calls for immediate and effective regional and international measures to halt the crimes and aggression of the occupying regime; end impunity; prosecute and punish the political and military leaders of the Zionist regime; ensure urgent humanitarian aid to the oppressed population of Gaza; and categorically reject any plan that involves the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank.

The issue of Palestine is not a regional dispute, but a litmus test of the international community’s commitment to the ideal of justice, the rule of law, and human rights. International Quds Day is an unparalleled opportunity for the Islamic world and for all free and conscientious human beings—regardless of faith or ideology—to manifest their rejection of the greatest injustice of the 20th century and to express their solidarity with their fellow oppressed human beings who have fallen victim to the arrogance, supremacism, cruelty, and expansionism of the Zionist regime and its supporters.

The experience of eight decades of terrorism, occupation, apartheid, and genocide perpetrated by the Zionist regime against the Palestinian nation—alongside its repeated aggressions against all of its neighbors and beyond, and its continued military occupation of significant parts of Syria and Lebanon—leaves no doubt as to the illegitimate and dangerous nature of this regime and its expansionist agenda.

As a rogue actor and the sole possessor of nuclear weapons in the region, the Zionist regime constitutes the gravest and most immediate threat to international peace and security. Under such circumstances, resistance is the sole viable path to confront the aggression and belligerence of the Zionist regime and its backers—not only in Palestine and Lebanon but throughout the region and the Islamic world.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, while reaffirming its solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people, calls upon all to participate in International Quds Day and support the oppressed people of Palestine