Senior Iranian officials are using the recent Israeli attacks on Doha to justify calls for the formation of a unified military front among Muslim nations as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathers for an emergency summit in Qatar on Monday.
Mohsen Rezaei, a former chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and now a member of the Expediency Council, warned that Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iraq could face future Israeli attacks if the OIC fails to act decisively.
“The only solution is forming a military coalition,” he said in remarks carried by Iranian media.
Reinforcing that call, Jalal Razavi-Mehr, a Shia cleric who heads the Assembly of Seminary Students’ Representatives in Qom, called for the creation of a joint Islamic army.
“This army should be composed of the defensive and military forces of Islamic countries, operating under a single command, with a shared defensive and, if necessary, offensive doctrine,” he said.
Inside Iran’s diplomatic corps, however, officials took a more cautious line.
Mehdi Shoushtari, the Foreign Ministry’s director general for West Asia and North Africa, said it was “still too early” to speak of a regional security pact, though he argued that conditions for such a framework are “more favorable than in the past.”
He emphasized the need for “a shared understanding” at both expert and governmental levels before any agreement could take shape.
Ahead of the OIC assembly, the remarks underscore Iran’s bid to assert itself in the bloc’s mostly Sunni Muslim deliberations.
President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to attend the Qatar summit.
Despite brief tensions after Iran fired rockets at a US base in Qatar during a 12-day clash with Israel in June, the two countries have in recent years deepened political and economic ties and often aligned on regional and international issues.
The OIC, which brings together 57 member states, has often limited its response to joint statements.
Monday’s gathering in Doha will test whether calls for a stronger response translate into concrete action, with its stance on the latest escalation still to be defined.
