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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran is ready to take part in the Mecca Alliance, a bloc that includes Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and accused the United States of striking Iran every time the two sides sit down to negotiate.
Pezeshkian made the remarks in an interview of about 40 minutes with Al Jazeera, speaking about the war with the United States that, by his account, has continued since the end of February.
“They label us as terrorists, but we are the victims of terrorism,” he said. “Every time we sit at the negotiating table, they carry out another attack on Iran.”
Pezeshkian said Iran wants to join the Mecca Alliance, though he acknowledged Tehran does not yet know the details of the arrangement.
He said Muslims should unite rather than split into two camps and fight one another. “We are ready to take part in this process,” he said.
Reuters has reported on the alliance, writing that Pakistan is sending troops to Saudi Arabia without waiting for a decision from its parliament.
Pezeshkian said he conveyed a message to Saudi Arabia through Pakistan’s prime minister, saying the kingdom, home to Islam’s holy cities of Mecca and Medina, could become the center of Islamic unity.
If Muslims were united, he said, Israel would never dare to act as it does in the Middle East.
Pezeshkian said Iranian officials, leaders and scientists were assassinated while Iran was at the negotiating table, and that innocent students were killed.
He said he made the same point at the United Nations, where he described the United States, Israel and “Zionists” as the real international terrorists.
He added that, with their advanced technology, they could assassinate anyone anywhere in the world.
On the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a large share of the world’s oil exports passes, Pezeshkian rejected responsibility for its closure.
He said the United States and Israel are to blame and that the issue can be settled through dialogue rather than force.
He accused Washington of coming from the other side of the world to the Gulf and doing as it pleases, setting up bases and attacking Iran.
Pezeshkian also questioned why Muslim countries allow the United States to use their airspace for strikes, an apparent reference to overflight permissions.
“Isn’t this war being waged against Muslims?” he asked.
He said Iran is striking Jordan because US bases are located there.
Turning to the Houthis, the Iran-aligned group that controls much of Yemen, Pezeshkian said Iran is ready to help resolve the problem and does not want it to develop further. “We can bring peace to both sides,” he said.
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