Iran 'strongly' condemns US veto of UN Gaza ceasefire resolution

TEHRAN: Iran on Thursday denounced the United States on Thursday for vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire and full humanitarian access in Gaza.Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement that the US move to block the resolution, which was supported by 14 of the 15 members of the council, demonstrated "the country's complicity in the crimes of the Zionist regime (Israel) and strongly condemned it".The draft resolution had demanded "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties" and the unconditional release of hostages held by Hamas in the war-torn Gaza Strip.It also called for the lifting of all restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the territory.Baqaei said the veto "is not only an explicit affront by the US government to the will of the international community ... but also a sign of the moral decline of American decision-makers" and evidence of Washington's complicity in Israel's killing of Palestinians.Washington's envoy to the UN, Dorothy Shea, said on Wednesday that passing the resolution "would undermine diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire that reflects the realities on the ground and emboldens Hamas," which is backed by Iran.

Tehran, which does not recognise Israel, has framed the Palestinian cause as a central tenet of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.The Iranian diplomat also called on the international community to "employ all their individual and collective capacities to compel the Zionist regime and its supporters to stop the killings in Gaza."