Iran Urges Immediate Global Action to End Gaza Siege

Araqchi delivered an address to the extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah on Monday.

What follows is the full text of his speech, issued by IRNA:

In the name of God, the most companionate, the most merciful. Peace and blessings be upon you;

Today, we have gathered at a moment when Gaza stands before our collective conscience like a shocking mirror. What is unfolding before our eyes is the organized destruction of besieged people by a ruthless apartheid regime that acts with complete impunity.

The people of Gaza are being massacred systematically, residential areas have been completely destroyed; hospitals have been turned into graveyards; and children are trapped in extreme famine and starvation, in blatant violation of every human standard. This is not a conventional war. It is collective punishment, a policy of domination, and an assault that bears all the hallmarks of genocide.

Now, the perpetrators of these crimes openly speak of their plans to establish permanent and total military control over Gaza. They talk of new blockades, new buffer zones, and new expulsions, and call it “security.” But we know its true name: “ethnic cleansing.” A systematic effort to fragment a nation until nothing remains of them but destruction or exile.

International law is unequivocal. Starvation and indiscriminate bombing are classified as war crimes and crimes against humanity. At the same time, the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits targeting civilians, destroying homes, and forcibly displacing populations. This is the deliberate imposition of conditions designed to annihilate a people, and it has only one name: Genocide. What more evidence do we need?

History will ask us: Did the Muslim world speak with one voice when Gaza was being suffocated? Did we act, or did we wait for others to act and decide for us? Today, hollow and inactive condemnations are useless.

To establish peace and ensure the full withdrawal of the occupying forces from every inch of Gaza, we must commit ourselves to:

Mobilizing all political, economic, and legal tools including sanctions, boycotts, and coordinated international pressure.

Pursuing accountability at all levels, in every court, against all those involved in war crimes and genocide in Palestine or who have enabled them plus immediately severing all relations with the killers of our brothers and sisters in Gaza, who today entertain the absurd dream of “Greater Israel.” It is a proven reality that appeasement in the past has yielded no results and will not in the future.

Confronting the complicity of governments that arm the occupying regime, shield it from international condemnation, and veto justice. They are miles away from neutrality, even though neutrality in the face of crime is not neutrality at all, but complicity.

Dear colleagues

Gaza is more than a place under suffering. It is a witness and a symbol of resistance, a reminder that human dignity cannot be reduced to ashes by bombs. The people of Gaza await our meaningful support, and their perseverance calls upon us to stand with them not only in words but in decisive action.

The Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) taught us that the Islamic Ummah is like a single body and soul. Today, this body is in pain and soaked in blood in Gaza. To remain silent is to wound ourselves, and courageous action is the path to healing.

I sincerely hope that this gathering will be remembered in history as more than speeches and promises. Let it be a day when the Muslim world transformed from passive witness to decisive will, from silence to strong leadership. Let it be a day when we chose justice over fear, unity over doubt, and humanity over politics.

Let us remember that the tragedy of Gaza does not concern only Muslims. It is a test for the global conscience. Therefore, we call on all nations, regardless of religion or geography, to stand on the side of humanity, justice, and dignity, which is the right side of history. History will not forgive delay. Gaza cannot wait. The time for action is now.