Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech. AFP
“To Muslim nations and our dear neighbors: you are our brothers, and we seek no conflict with you. Only the Zionist regime benefits from our divisions,” Pezeshkian wrote on X.
He warned that regional divisions serve only Israel, as a widening conflict continues to exact a heavy toll across the Middle East.
He added that the occasion of Eid al-Fitr should be a moment to “gain unity and strength” and to pursue “divine pleasure” through the teachings of the Prophet.
The appeal comes as violence intensifies across multiple fronts in the region.
In Iran, over 3,000 people, including 1,444 civilians, are believed to have been killed in thousands of US-Israeli airstrikes, according to Iranian authorities, a sharp increase from earlier casualty estimates this week. The strikes have reportedly damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of residential and commercial units.
Among the deadliest incidents, Iranian officials say a US strike on the first day of the war on 28 February hit a girls’ school in the southeastern city of Minab, killing 175 children and teachers.
Beyond Iran, the conflict has spread across the region.
In Lebanon, the health ministry says at least 1,001 people, including women and children, have been killed in Israeli strikes since 2 March, with more than one million displaced and infrastructure heavily damaged.
The fighting has also reached the Gulf, where Iranian drone and missile attacks have targeted all six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Dozens of people, including foreign residents, have been killed, and strikes on oil and gas facilities have caused significant damage.
The escalation has triggered a wave of diplomatic activity. Egypt has stepped up efforts to contain the crisis, with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi visiting the United Arab Emirates and Qatar and holding calls with Gulf and Arab leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and Kuwait’s Emir Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
Cairo has condemned attacks on Gulf states, said their security is integral to its own, and called for enhanced cooperation and the activation of joint Arab security mechanisms to address regional challenges. It also urged all parties to return to negotiations.
“Egypt continues to urge all parties to return to negotiations as the only way to achieve political solutions that protect sovereignty and regional stability,” stated El-Sisi, per the presidency.
El-Sisi also held a phone call with Pezeshkian, expressing concern over the escalation and its impact on regional stability.
Separately, in his first major policy message to Iran and the world since assuming the top leadership position in the country, Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, promised on Friday a “serious and genuine” policy of engagement with neighbouring countries.
He said several “spiritual elements” strengthen these ties, including a shared devotion to Islam, sacred sites, shared ethnicity, and “common strategic interests, particularly in confronting the front of arrogance.”
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