Fight to ‘liberate Palestine’ ‘Islamic duty’: Khamenei
Iran's supreme leader said it was an "Islamic duty" to fight for the "liberation of Palestine" in a landmark speech yesterday amid rising tensions with regional arch-enemy Israel.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lashed out at Western governments and their Arab "puppets" for supporting the Jewish state, in his first ever address marking Quds (Jerusalem) Day.
The 80-year-old leader also appeared to confirm for the first time that Iran has helped to provide Palestinians with arms.
The remarks came at the end of a week that saw Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launch a Twitter tirade against Khamenei and reports that the two sides carried out cyber attacks on each other.
"The aim of this struggle is the liberation of the entire Palestinian land" and "the return of all Palestinians to their country," Khamenei said in the speech broadcast live on state television.
Every year since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has marked Quds Day on the last Friday of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, in solidarity with the Palestinians.
In his speech, Khamenei also criticised the UN for failing to do its job in Middle East trouble spots.
Jordan threatened Thursday to review its relationship with Israel if the Jewish state goes ahead with controversial plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
"We will not accept unilateral Israeli moves to annex Palestinian lands and we would be forced to review all aspects of our relations with Israel," Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz told the official Petra news agency.
His comments came days after Jordan's King Abdullah II warned that if Israel "really annexes the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan".
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