World, Middle East

Iran: Trump trying to give 'what isn’t his' to Israel

Iranian foreign minister slams US president over remarks recognizing Israeli control of occupied Golan Heights

Ahmet Dursun and Sena Guler  | 22.03.2019 - Update : 22.03.2019
Iran: Trump trying to give 'what isn’t his' to Israel Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

ANKARA

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif slammed the U.S. president on Friday over his pro-Israel remarks on the control of the occupied Golan Heights.

"All [OIC countries] shocked by @realDonaldTrump continuing to try to give what is not his to racist Israel: first Al-Quds & now Golan,” Zarif said in a tweet, after attending the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting held in Istanbul on last week's terror shootings in New Zealand.

"With OIC ministers in Turkey; all condemn barbaric Christchurch terror against Muslims & seek to unite against dangerous tide of racism & Islamophobia in the West," Zarif added, referring to last Friday's terror attacks on two mosques in New Zealand which claimed at least 50 lives.

On Thursday, Donald Trump said in a tweet it was time for the U.S. to recognize Israel's control of the occupied Golan Heights.

Notably, the U.S. State Department last week officially referred to the Golan Heights as an "Israeli-controlled" territory. Previously, it had consistently referred to the region as "Israeli-occupied".

Israel has long pushed Washington to recognize its claim over the territory it seized from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel occupies roughly two-thirds of the wider Golan Heights as a de facto result of the conflict. It moved to formally annex the territory in 1981 -- an action unanimously rejected at the time by the UN Security Council.

The U.S. for the first time voted against an annual UN resolution condemning Israel's control of the Golan Heights in November. In all, 151 nations voted in support, with just Israel and the U.S. voting against.

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