Iran’s president backs Palestinians amid spats with UK, Australia

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian released a statement on Tuesday backing Palestinians during a trip to a university in Iran. “From the beginning of my tenure in government, I have declared my steadfast support for the Palestinian people and the oppressed around the world, highlighting my commitment to uphold their rights in all arenas,” he said.

Iranian state media characterized this as support for more “resistance.” Pezeshkian was speaking at the ninth International Conference of Mujahideen in Exile, held at Damghan University in the Semnan Province. The president also commemorated late Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian during his speech, with reports describing him as being the “embodiment of resistance diplomacy.”

This is an interesting new term for Iran’s diplomacy; it shows how the diplomatic offensives that Iran has run recently, working with Russia and various countries in the region, are part of the overall Iranian aggressive strategy that dovetails with the role of the IRGC in the region.

The Iranian presidential visit to a university comes as Iran’s new foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, continues to hold calls and receive messages from abroad. According to Iranian media, both Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena and Elmedin Konaković, the foreign minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, sent notes to Araghchi.

This is important for Iran; it wants to work with countries like Bosnia and Mexico. It wants to do outreach to the West, including the Global South, in initiatives that are likely part of Araghchi’s new foreign policy. This is not to say that everything is new, but Iran wants more outreach to Latin America and eastern Europe. IRNA reported that Konaković “also expressed certainty that friendly relations between Iran and Bosnia and Herzegovina will further strengthen with the support of Iran’s new foreign minister.”

Araghchi is believed to favor a slight return to more open discussions with the West. However, he continues to pick fights with Western countries. Recently, the Iranian foreign minister slammed Australia for an event in Tehran. CNN reported, “The Australian Embassy in Tehran posted photos on Monday to mark Wear It Purple Day, an annual celebration of LGBTQIA+ youth founded in Australia. The head of the Regional Affairs Office of the Foreign Ministry expressed strong objections to the Australian embassy’s move, condemning the content as disrespectful and contrary to Iranian and Islamic cultural norms.”

Iranian FM summons UK envoy 

At the same time, the Iranian foreign ministry summoned the UK’s top envoy in Iran to complain about sanctions against several Iranian individuals. In addition, “the British chargé d’affaires was warned that Western support for the genocide of Palestinians and their efforts to shield war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu are the real causes of instability and insecurity in the region,” IRNA noted.

On a different front, Iran is paying close attention to US opposition to an Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project. Iranian state media noted that “the pipe-laying project from the Iranian borderline to Gwadar port in Pakistan’s Balochistan province is estimated to cost 45 billion Pakistani rupees, which will provide the country with the opportunity to import cost-effective gas from Iran.”

Overall, this demonstrates how Iran is firmly entrenched in various trade initiatives, particularly north-south trade that originates from Russia and heads down to the Gulf or goes to China and also to Pakistan or India. For years, Iran has been seeking to expand its role as a corridor between these various regions, such as southern Europe, Russia, Central Asia, the Gulf, and South Asia.