Interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has expressed Iran’s strong support for any initiative aimed at countering Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

According to The Iran Project, he made the remarks on Monday during a meeting with South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola, who is in Tehran to attend Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony.

Bagheri Kani praised Lamola as a “brave and innovator diplomat” who has followed up the case filed with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the Zionist regime’s war crimes in Gaza.

He also hailed the South African government’s efforts at international legal and judicial bodies in condemnation of Israel’s atrocities.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran backs any initiative and measure in the international arena meant to support the oppressed people of Palestine, and to confront and condemn the Zionist regime’s genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza,” he added.

Bagheri Kani further emphasized the importance of continued cooperation between Iran and South Africa in international and multilateral mechanisms, such as the BRICS group of emerging economies, to defend the rights of independent countries and the Palestinian people.

South Africa’s top diplomat, for his part, expressed his country’s keenness to boost economic, commercial and cultural ties with Iran, and develop interactions within the frameworks of the ICJ and the International Court of Justice (ICC).

He also called for enhanced Tehran-Pretoria consultations in the fight against the Israeli genocide in Gaza.