Iran is one of several majority-Muslim Middle Eastern countries reacting with outrage to Trump’s plan to “take over” Gaza, ousting the jihadist terror organization Hamas that has ruled the small plot of land for nearly two decades. Gaza was in an urgent state of disrepair for years under Hamas leadership but has been, according to Trump, turned into “a demolition site” after over a year of war between Hamas and Israel, prompted by Hamas terrorists invading Israel and massacring over 1,000 civilians in late 2023.
Iran is the world’s premier state sponsor of terrorism and a top funder of Hamas. The State Department estimated in 2020 that Iran spends as much as $100 million a year on funding Hamas and similar groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), giving it a vested interest in ensuring that America does not destroy Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.
Araghchi told Guterres, who has been historically unsympathetic to Israel’s struggle against various jihadist terror groups, that the United Nations needs to take a prominent role against the Trump plan, which he called a “U.S.-Zionist plot.”
“He underlined the need for the United Nations, particularly the UN Security Council, to push back against this dangerous plot which threatens international peace and security,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry relayed on Monday, summarizing Araghchi’s comments to Guterres.
“He added that the proposal for the forced displacement of Palestinians violates all international rules, regulations, and the UN Charter,” the Foreign Ministry continued. “It is, in fact, a complement to the Zionist regime’s project of the genocide of Palestinians and the erasure of Palestine.”
Iran and Israel’s Muslim neighbors have repeatedly referred to any plan to allow Palestinian refugees to escape captivity under Hamas rule as “forced displacement” or “genocide,” claiming that all Palestinian civilians prefer to live in Gaza under the control of a genocidal terrorist group.
Araghchi, the Iranian Foreign Minister, reportedly emphasized in his talk with the U.N. chief the “vehement condemnation by Islamic countries of the plan to displace the people of Gaza,” not just opposition from Iran.
The United Nations did not publish a separate readout of the call, but the Iranian Foreign Ministry claimed that Guterres “explicitly declared the world body’s opposition to any plan that involves the forced displacement of the Palestinian people from their land.”
“Guterres said the forced displacement of the people of Gaza would be completely deplorable and unacceptable,” according to Iran.
Trump shocked the Middle East with remarks last week in which he announced that his administration would take over control of the Gaza Strip, remove Palestinian civilians to allow for the complete removal of dangerous terrorist materials, and turn it into a global tourism destination.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll love it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous bombs and other weapons on the site … and get rid of the destroyed buildings [and] create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing.”
Trump described the new Gaza as “the Riviera of the Middle East” and an “international, unbelievable place.”
On Sunday, Trump repeated his plan and said that he was “committed to buying and owning Gaza.”
“Think of it as a big real estate site, and the United States is going to own it, and will slowly, very slowly, develop it,” Trump said aboard Air Force One on his way to the Super Bowl. “As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it, other people may do it, through our auspices.”
“But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back,” he asserted.
Trump has repeatedly stated that a complete overhaul of Gaza’s infrastructure is necessary due to Hamas’s infiltration of every civilian facility and the destruction of war.
“The place is a demolition site. The remainder will be demolished. Everything’s demolished,” he said on Sunday.
Guterres has not directly condemned Trump’s plan, but referred to it vaguely following Trump’s initial announcement of a Gaza takeover last week.
“It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing,” Guterres said during a meeting on the situation in the Middle East last week. “Any durable peace will require tangible, irreversible and permanent progress toward the two-State solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.”
Guterres did not mention Trump, but his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told reporters it was safe to assume he was addressing the Trump Gaza plan with his warning against ethnic cleansing.
On Tuesday, Guterres made a call for the world to “avoid at all costs” a return to active hostilities in Gaza, which were halted in late January as a result of a ceasefire agreement.
“I appeal to Hamas to proceed with the planned liberation of hostages next Saturday,” Guterres said. “Both sides must fully abide by their commitments in the ceasefire agreement and resume serious negotiations in Doha for the second phase.”
Guterres did not include in his comment American ownership of Gaza as a viable cost to stop the war “at all costs.”
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