Tasnim – Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf denounced plans by certain regional countries to normalize ties with the Zionist regime as a strategic mistake.

In a Wednesday telephone conversation with Ismail Haniyeh, the chief of the political bureau of Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas, Qalibaf said some parties are making a “strategic mistake” by trying to normalize ties with the Israeli regime.

“Time has proven that the Zionists understand only the language of resistance, and that compromise and surrender to them will get nowhere,” the Iranian speaker added.

He also reaffirmed Iran’s support for the Palestinian people, stressing that resistance will thwart the plots such as the so-called deal of the century and the Zionist plans to annex parts of the West Bank.

For his part, Haniyeh praised Iran for its unwavering support for the Palestinian resistance, saying people of Palestine and the Hamas movement will press on with resistance until the eviction of Zionists from the occupied territories.

He also slammed a muted response from a number of countries to the Israeli regime’s acts of aggression and expansionist plans, saying Hamas condemns the silence of certain regional states which seek normalization of ties with the Zionist enemy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has launched plans on extending “Israeli sovereignty” to Israeli settlements, illegal under international law, in the occupied West Bank and annexing outright the Jordan Valley.

The Palestinians have already threatened to cancel existing peace agreements if Netanyahu moves forward with his plan, while the European Union foreign policy chief said annexation would be a violation of international law and force the bloc to “act accordingly”. The UN's Middle East envoy said such a step would "ignite" the region.