Iran's foreign ministry on Thursday appeared to back a preliminary deal to end the two-year-old war in Gaza clinched by US President Donald Trump, saying Tehran has long supported any agreement to end the fighting and secure Palestinian rights.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported any initiative that entails ending the genocidal war, the withdrawal of occupying forces, the entry of humanitarian aid, the release of Palestinian prisoners and the realization of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people," the ministry said.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterates that stopping the crimes and genocide in Gaza does not absolve governments and competent international bodies of their shared legal, humanitarian and moral duty to pursue justice by identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators and commanders responsible for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip with the aim of ending the decades-long impunity of the Zionist regime."
Tehran has backed long backed Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who sparked the latest round of fighting with a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 which killed 1,200 and captured 251.
An Israeli ground incursion and air attacks have killed over 67,000 Palestinians and devastated the coastal enclave.
The combat ignited a region-wide conflagration pitting Israel backed by the United States against Iran and its armed allies in the region, but Tehran and its affiliates took heavy blows.
The Assad dynasty which was Tehran's oldest ally was overthrown by Sunni Islamist militants, Hezbollah in Lebanon was battered by a coordinated Israeli attack via booby-trapped communication devices while its leader Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in a bomb attack and Iran itself was pounded in a June war.
Launched by Israel on June 13 after two months of US-Iran nuclear talks appeared to stall, the shock military campaign killed Iranian nuclear scientists along with hundreds on Iranian military personnel and civilians.
Iran retaliated with ballistic missiles and drones which killed 31 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.
The United States joined the campaign with air attacks on three key nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan which Trump said had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program.
An impasse over Iran's nuclear activities, which Tehran insists are peaceful, lingers.
Israeli officials have repeatedly mooted the possibility of renewed strikes on the Islamic Republic, which has asserted its readiness to confront any attack.
