The comments came during a visit to Islamabad, where he met scholars and political figures at the Iranian embassy on Thursday.
Qalibaf opened his remarks by praising Pakistan’s public support for Iran during the 12-day US-Israeli aggression on Iran in June. He said that Pakistan’s message of solidarity during the aggression convinced him to make Pakistan his first foreign stop after the war.
“Muslim nations should use force against the Zionist regime; our power is our logic, but when there is no understanding, you must show force. This regime [Israel] does not understand any other language,” he said.
On June 13, Israel launched an unprovoked aggression against Iran, triggering a 12-day war that killed at least 1,064 people in the country, including military commanders, nuclear scientists, and civilians. The United States also entered the war by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of international law.
On June 24, Iran, through its successful retaliatory operations against both the Israeli regime and the US, managed to impose a halt to the terrorist assault.
Providing details about Iran’s legitimate response to the aggression, Qalibaf noted that it was the US intervention that “rescued” Israel.
“It was the United States that controlled and revived the command center with its advisers and commanders,” he said, pointing to the large-scale destruction of Israeli targets hit by Iranian missiles from some 2,000 kilometers away.
Without the US support, the regime would have sustained a “heavy defeat in less than seven days,” he added.
Israel has failed in its aim of erasing the name of Palestine, he said, adding, “Not only the Muslim countries, but the whole world are pushing for Palestinians’ rights.”
He urged Muslim countries to unite and act together. “We must, by coming closer to one another, create the conditions to destroy this regime,” he said.
“With the support of the US, the Zionist regime is seeking to hit blows to the Muslim world and currently, it is bombing Lebanon, Syria and other Muslim countries.
“If they wage a war against Iran, they seek to prevent Iran from being independent and powerful; they want a weak Iran so as to disintegrate it. You see the same situation in Syria, Libya, and Lebanon,” he added.
Elsewhere in his comments, Qalibaf pointed to Washington’s push to normalize ties between the Israeli regime and some regional countries under the so-called Abraham Accords. “No Muslim country should allow itself to establish ties with the enemy of Islam and Muslims,” he stressed.
He slammed “imposed peace” deals and said they split the Muslim world into the side to be attacked and the side that must accept normalization. He portrayed those deals as part of a broader strategy to weaken independent Muslim states.
Qalibaf reiterated call for unity across the Muslim world. He said that if any Muslim state is attacked by Israel, “all Muslims must confront it.”
He urged stronger cooperation in science, technology and education, adding that Muslim countries must be independent and powerful in many fields, especially high technology, to make up for centuries of backwardness.
Heading a parliamentary delegation, Qalibaf departed for Islamabad on Wednesday morning at the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart, Ayaz Sadiq.
Pakistan PM calls for Muslim unity, stronger ties with Iran
As part of his programs in Islamabad, Qalibaf also met and held talks with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday.
During the meeting, Sharif reaffirmed his country’s commitment to strengthening cooperation with Iran, saying both nations play an important role in promoting global peace and Muslim unity.
Welcoming Qalibaf, Sharif conveyed “warm greetings and respect” to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian. “Pakistan and Iran, as two brotherly Muslim countries, share a firm commitment to global peace and the unity of the Muslim Ummah,” he said.
He described the relations between the two neighbours as “close and brotherly,” stressing that both countries believe in resolving global disputes “through peaceful means, dialogue, and diplomacy.”
The prime minister said both Iran and Pakistan “condemn state terrorism” and have consistently supported each other in the face of “unilateral aggression” against their sovereignty.
Press TV