Iran Calls for 'Arming the Palestinian People' and Highlights Fajr 5 Missiles

Kazem Sedighi, the Friday prayer leader of Tehran, called for the 'arming of the Palestinian people' during his sermon on December 15. The representative of the Supreme Leader in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also referred to the Fajr 5 missiles in Gaza as part of Iran's 'strategies' to 'change the battlefield' in the region. Sedighi's call for 'arming the Palestinian people' was a reaction to Donald Trump's December 6 statement recognizing Jerusalem as the 'capital of Israel.' He condemned the 'dangerous statements' of the 'crisis-ridden' and 'discredited' U.S. president regarding Jerusalem. According to Tasnim News Agency, Sedighi added that 'America has declared Jerusalem as the capital of the usurping, fake, child-killing, and identity-less Zionist regime.' The Tehran Friday prayer leader further stated, 'Trump is truly a strange creature... He has horns but lacks intelligence; in addition to having a Zionist son-in-law, he is an idiot who understands nothing of politics. He approved a congressional resolution that previous U.S. presidents had not implemented due to national interests, which contradicts UN resolutions.' Sedighi claimed that 'one of the sinister goals of the Americans in their plans was to incite civil wars among Islamic countries so that the Palestinian issue, which is the top priority of the Islamic world, would be sidelined... They created ISIS to provide a safe haven for the Zionist regime, but they did not achieve this sinister goal and instead deepened Iran's political and emotional influence in the region, which today has led to the formation of Zainabiyoun, Fatimiyoun, Haidariyun, and Basij, creating a strong military and defensive ring; through them, the downfall of Israel is not far off, but God willing, it will soon be definitive and undeniable.' He also referred to the final statement of the recent meeting of the leaders of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, stating that these countries must come to the field and 'at the behest of the great Arab and the great man of resistance, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah [Secretary-General of Hezbollah Lebanon], close Israeli embassies and summon American ambassadors.' Sedighi did not specify how or by whom the 'arming of the Palestinian people' should be carried out, nor did he directly mention Iran. A day earlier, Ali Saidi, the representative of Ayatollah Khamenei in the IRGC, stated, 'If there were no Fajr 5 missiles, Gaza would have been destroyed.' According to ISNA, on December 15, Saidi elaborated on the 'strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran' for 'changing the battlefield' in the region, saying, 'If the Fajr 5 missiles were not in Gaza, this strip would be in a different situation today, and the enemies of resistance would have destroyed it.' Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched Fajr 5 missiles towards Israeli cities, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, during the summer 2014 operations, although the firing of Fajr 5 missiles towards Israel had begun earlier in 2012. However, this is the first time an official at the level of the representative of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the IRGC has described the presence of Fajr 5 missiles in the Gaza Strip as 'part of the strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran' to 'change the battlefield' against 'enemies.' This contrasts with the statements made by Aladdin Boroujerdi, the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament, who denied the delivery of these missiles to Palestinian forces in 2012 when the first Fajr 5 missiles were fired by Hamas and Islamic Jihad at Israel. Following the death of Ahmad Jabari, the commander of Hamas's military wing, who was killed by Israel in the fall of 2012, multiple reports in Israeli media and occasionally in Palestinian media indicated that he played a significant role in developing Hamas's rocket plans and improving the range of rockets made in Gaza, including the construction of Fajr 5. The recent statements by Ali Saidi regarding Iran's 'strategies' for 'changing the battlefield' in the region, along with the recent call by the Tehran Friday prayer leader for the 'arming of the Palestinian people,' came shortly after phone conversations between the Iranian president and the commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC with political and military officials of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Hassan Rouhani, on Monday, told Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau in Gaza, that Iran would continue to 'stand by the Palestinian people.' Simultaneously, Qassem Soleimani emphasized Iran's continued 'support for the cause of Jerusalem' in phone conversations with military commanders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. These calls followed the U.S. statement recognizing Jerusalem 'as the capital of Israel' and Hamas's call for Palestinians to begin a 'new intifada.' Iran's close relations with Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the numerous visits of Ramadan Abdullah Shalah, the secretary-general of this organization, to Iran during the Syrian civil war have continued. Additionally, relations between Iran and Hamas, which had cooled due to Hamas's distancing from intervention in the Syrian civil war in favor of Bashar al-Assad's regime, have recently warmed again, as confirmed by both sides. Iran fundamentally does not recognize the existence of Israel and believes in its 'downfall'; among Palestinians, Iran has maintained the closest relations with the 'Resistance Front' groups, especially Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, over the past three decades and emphasizes the need to establish a Palestinian state from 'river to sea.' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, emphasized the 'necessity of arming the West Bank' to 'repel the evils of the Zionists' in two speeches in 2014 and during a meeting that year with Ramadan Abdullah Shalah, the secretary-general of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Six years ago, the Iranian leader also stated in a Friday prayer sermon, 'The Islamic Republic of Iran will support and back any nation and group that fights against the Zionist regime.' These statements are still visible in the section '20 sentences from the Leader of the Revolution about the Islamic Republic's position on Israel' on the official website as 'the most important and memorable sentence of the Leader of the Revolution in the year 1390.'