Addressing the Muslim world’s parliamentarians, President Hassan Rouhani says Palestine has regained its status as the most important issue facing the Islamic world after the collapse of the Daesh terror group in Iraq and Syria.

Rouhani said the current instability and insecurity gripping the region stem from continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, Washington's “tendentious and unstinting” support for the Tel Aviv regime and the Palestinian nation’s failure to exercise its “basic right” to establish a sovereign state with Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

He made the comments in a speech to the 13th Session of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which opened in Tehran earlier in the day.

With the defeat of the Takfiri Daesh terror group, Rouhani added, Palestine had regained its status as the “first priority on the Islamic Ummah’s political agenda.”

Rouhani hailed Daesh’s territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria, expressing hope for the ultimate annihilation of the Takfiri outfit, which tried to present “an entirely wrongful and inauspicious” interpretation of Islam to the world.

The president further said Iran views no country as its “competitor,” adding that the Islamic Republic believes it could even engage in negotiations and cooperation with the countries with which it has differences of opinion based on mutual respect.

Some countries, however, are treading the wrong path and seek to widen the rifts among Muslim nations under the US and Israel’s influence, Rouhani added.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani (2nd R), Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani (3rd R), and foreign dignitaries attend the 13th Session of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)’s opening ceremony in Tehran, January 16, 2018. (Photo by president.ir)

Countries, which are themselves the sources of war, politico-economic pressure, and crises for the Muslim world, and consider their survival to be contingent on bloodshed and propagation of extremism, “Neither do they ever seek, nor are they in a position to act as friends and companions of the oppressed and downtrodden people,” Rouhani said.

‘Foreign meddling doomed’

Rouhani further called for the creation of a “calm region, and peaceful foreign relations”

No country, Rouhani asserted, can resolve its domestic problems by mobilizing forces abroad and massacring people in neighboring countries.

Rouhani further warned against continued dependence of regional countries on foreign powers, saying, “The experiences of modern history teach us that these powers solely think about their own interests.”

The Tehran event, which will last until Wednesday, is attended by parliament speakers, deputy parliament speakers, and parliamentary delegations from 44 countries.

The Parliamentary Union’s various committees, including the Permanent Palestine Committee, the Expert Committee on Political Affairs and Foreign Relations, Expert Committee on Human Rights, the Women and Family Affairs’ Committee, met over Saturday and Sunday.

The committees lent their initial approval to more than 55 resolutions, which are to be discussed and approved over the two days when the PUIC is holding its session.

Lebanon urges practical measures

Also addressing the event was Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who said Muslim countries had to adopt practical measures to counter Trump’s “brazen” decision.

Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (C) takes part in the 13th Session of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Tehran, January 18, 2018. (Photo by IRNA)

He asked all Muslim countries to transfer their embassies to al-Quds, boycott Israeli goods, and condemn Tel Aviv’s construction of settlements on Palestinian territories.

“All their surprise attacks to Judaize al-Quds have fallen through so far,” Berri said of the Israelies. “We will win if we make it our resolution.”

He also praised the Islamic Republic for always standing on the front line of supporting Palestine and humanitarian affairs.