Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday called the cause of Palestine a major issue of the Islamic world and also urged Muslims to support the “people of Bahrain, Kashmir and Yemen”.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in an address to a gathering of Iranians in the capital Tehran, reported Xinhua news agency.

“According to Islamic jurisprudence, when an enemy takes over Muslim lands, jihad in any possible form becomes everyone’s duty,” Ayatollah Khamenei was quoted by Press TV as saying.

“Palestine is the number one issue of the Islamic world, but some Islamic countries are acting in such a way that as if the Palestinian case had been ignored and forgotten.

“Today the fight against the Zionist regime is obligatory and necessary for Muslims,” he said, urging unity among the Muslim states. “Division and discord are harmful to Islam and the Islamic Ummah [nation].”

Muslim the world over should also openly support the people of Bahrain, Kashmir and Yemen “and repudiate oppressors and tyrants who attacked people in Ramadan”, he said.

On Friday, people here chanted anti-Israel and anti-US slogans and carried banners condemning Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian lands.