Iran calls on D-8 countries to cut all ties with Israel

Bagheri Kani made the remarks during an extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers of the Developing Eight (D-8) Organization for Economic Cooperation in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Saturday.

He condemned the ongoing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people and called on Islamic countries to take practical measures, including by cutting off all relations with the occupying regime, to put an end to the war on Gaza.

Bagheri Kani pointed out that Israel will only "accept the reality" when confronted with the use of force, citing Iran's Operation True Promise, a massive retaliatory strike on April 13, as evidence.

After more than eight months of Israeli attacks on Gaza, the top diplomat said the international community has yet to take concrete action to end the occupying regime's "unprecedented crimes".

"The occupying regime, by employing the policy of collective punishment, aims to achieve the sinister and dangerous goal of social collapse in Gaza by making it uninhabitable, which constitutes a blatant case of war crimes and genocide," he said.

Top diplomats from Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangladesh, as well as senior officials from Egypt and Nigeria are participating in the D-8 summit in Istanbul to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

MNA/IRN