Iranian FM: Palestinians should decide own fate by voting

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif renewed Tehran’s full support for the oppressed people of Palestine, and said the Muslim country’s people should decide their own fate at the ballot box. In a meeting with member of the Fatah Central Committee Jibril Rajoub in Tehran on Tuesday, Zarif said the Palestinian issue is a fundamental cause for Iranian officials and nation. “For the Iranian government and people, all walks of the Palestinian nation are dear. The Palestinian nation, given its brilliant record of resistance against the Zionists’ aggressions, deserves all-out support from all Muslim and world countries,” the top Iranian diplomat stated. “We believe the future of Palestine and its people should be decided by Palestinians themselves and through ballot boxes,” Zarif stressed. Late in September, Zarif underlined that the UN should admit Palestine as a full member state, and voiced the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)’s support for the move. “We are ready to support Palestine in international communities,” Zarif said, addressing a meeting of the NAM’s Palestine Committee of on the sidelines of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York at the time. Iran is currently holds the rotating chair of the NAM. In November, the UN overwhelmingly voted to grant Palestine non-member observer status. Israel strongly opposes Palestinian statehood, despite the notion's widespread international support.