Trump’s Jerusalem move will ‘hasten Israel’s destruction’

Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, pledged the Islamic Republic’s ‘complete support for Palestinian Islamic resistance movements’

Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital will hasten the country’s destruction, Iran’s defense minister said on Monday, while a top Revolutionary Guards commander phoned two Palestinian armed groups and pledged support for them.

Leaders of Iran, where opposition to Israel and support for the Palestinian cause has been central to foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution, have denounced last week’s announcement by the US president, including a plan to move the US embassy to the city.

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

‘(Trump’s) step will hasten the destruction of the Zionist regime and will double the unity of Muslims,’ Iran’s defense minister, Brigadier General Amir Hatami, said on Monday, according to state media.

The army’s chief of staff, General Mohammad Baqeri, said Trump’s ‘foolish move’ could be seen as the beginning of a new intifada, or Palestinian uprising.

Iran's defense minister warned that US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital will hasten the country's destruction. A man is silhouetted while he blows a Shofar, a ram or antelope horn, in Jerusalem's Old City on SundayMuslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, is seen in the background December 10, 2017.

Iran’s defense minister warned that US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital will hasten the country’s destruction. A man is silhouetted while he blows a Shofar, a ram or antelope horn, in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday

Trump's decision ignited a wave of protests throughout the world as governments lined up to condemn the move

Trump’s decision ignited a wave of protests throughout the world as governments lined up to condemn the move

Iran has long supported a number of anti-Israeli militant groups, including the military wing of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which the deputy commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, said was ‘stronger than the Zionist regime.’

Similarly, Qassem Soleimani, the head of the branch of the Guards that oversees operations outside of Iran’s borders pledged the Islamic Republic’s ‘complete support for Palestinian Islamic resistance movements’ after phone calls with commanders from Islamic Jihad and the Izz al-Deen Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, on Monday according to Sepah News, the news site of the Guards.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday stepped up efforts to rally Middle Eastern countries against US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which EU foreign ministers meanwhile declined to support.

The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, on Monday said the group and its allies in the region would renew their focus on the Palestinian cause after what he called their victories elsewhere in the region.

A Palestinian protestor throws stones using a sling shot towards Israeli security forces during clashes in Tulkarm on Tuesday

A Palestinian protestor throws stones using a sling shot towards Israeli security forces during clashes in Tulkarm on Tuesday

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday stepped up efforts to rally Middle Eastern countries against US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which EU foreign ministers meanwhile declined to support. A Palestinian protester is seen in Ramallah on Monday

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday stepped up efforts to rally Middle Eastern countries against US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which EU foreign ministers meanwhile declined to support. A Palestinian protester is seen in Ramallah on Monday

Nasrallah called on Hezbollah’s allies to put in place a united strategy ‘in the field’ to confront Israel. 

The Iran-backed group has been fighting Islamic State in Syria alongside regional allies and the group has been largely defeated.

Nasrallah was speaking by video link to a large protest in Beirut over the United States decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy there.

On Saturday a video was released of the commander of an Iraqi Shi’ite militia allied to Hezbollah visiting Lebanon’s border with Israel, apparently accompanied by a Hezbollah commander.

Nasrallah said in June that any future war waged by Israel against Lebanon or Syria could draw in fighters from countries including Iran and Iraq.

On Monday he repeated a call he made last week for a new Palestinian uprising against Israel and called on Arab states to abandon the peace process, describing negotiations with the United States as futile.

‘Today the axis of resistance, including Hezbollah, will return as its most important priority … Jerusalem and Palestine and the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance in all its factions,’ he said.

Hezbollah was formed in the 1980s as a resistance movement against Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon and they remain bitter enemies.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a brief war in 2006 and tensions rose again this year as Israel struck Hezbollah arms stores and convoys in Syria. 



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk