Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has argued that the measure would help stop Israel’s “crimes in Gaza”
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. © Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has urged Muslim nations to impose an oil and food embargo on Israel to stop its military operation in Gaza.
Speaking to students in Tehran on Wednesday, Khamenei said, “What Islamic governments must insist on is the immediate cessation of crimes in Gaza,” suggesting that Muslim countries should “block the export of oil and food to the Zionist regime,” as quoted by the state-run IRNA media outlet.
He went on to claim that Israel is “now in a state of shock and desperation and does not know what to do,” while pointing out that the events in Gaza have prompted people to take to the streets and denounce Israel’s actions, not only in Muslim-majority states, but also in the US and Western Europe.
In mid-October, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, had made a similar call, asking Muslim nations to impose an “immediate and complete” oil embargo on Israel
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Last week, Libya’s House of Representatives (HoR, Majlis al-Nuwaab), which is located in the eastern city of Tobruk, controlled by General Khalifa Haftar, also demanded that the government halt oil and gas exports to countries supporting Israel if the “Israeli massacres” do not cease. The lawmakers also called for the expulsion from Libya of the ambassadors of the countries that back Israel.
It is worth noting that the Tobruk-based authorities do not control the whole of Libya, with a rival government operating from Tripoli.
Also last month, the Associated Press quoted Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as warning that supplies of Middle Eastern oil to international markets could potentially be disrupted if other nations join the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
READ MORE: Libya tells Western ambassadors to go home
Iran, aside from being the world’s eighth-largest oil producer, could also potentially block the narrow Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The route is used to transport approximately one-third of the world’s seaborne oil shipments.
Back in 1973, an oil embargo imposed on the US and Western countries by Arab nations in response to their support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War led to a severe deficit and an ensuing economic slump.
