Iran rejects US as impartial mediator in Gaza ceasefire talks

“Through open support for Zionists’ atrocities, the United States has proven its complicity and that it cannot be an impartial mediator. It is constantly trying to place hurdles on the path of stopping the occupying regime’s brutalities, and encouraging Zionists to continue their genocide,” Bagheri Kani told Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in a telephone conversation on Saturday evening.

He stressed that the Israeli regime is perpetrating atrocities in Gaza at the same time as exercising hypocrisy and deceit in negotiations aimed at brokering a ceasefire in the besieged strip.

Commenting on the Israeli assassination of the political bureau chief of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the top Iranian diplomat stated that the Islamic Republic reserves its inherent and legitimate right to respond to the crime.

Bagheri Kani stressed that Palestinians, thanks to their exemplary courage, will not surrender to the Zionist regime.

For his part, Abdelatty pointed to the multi-party meetings in the Egyptian capital Cairo to conclude a ceasefire in Gaza, stressing that Egypt's efforts focus on assisting Palestinians and immediately stopping the Zionists' crimes in Gaza.

He expressed regret over the severe scarcity of food and medicine in the Gaza Strip and the outbreaks of various infectious diseases, emphasizing that the international community’s consensus is required in order to establish a ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible.

Cairo is set to host the next round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, building on recent discussions in Doha that mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar have classed as promising.