TEHRAN, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran has urged Muslims worldwide to hold massive rallies on Friday to mark the al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day in support of the Palestinians.
"The current circumstances in Palestine and the region require Muslim nations and governments to maintain their unity, solidarity and integrity against the Zionist regime (of Israel) more than ever," Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
"Muslims need to be vigilant against this common enemy (Israel) and to resist the conspiracies by Israel and its supporters," the statement said.
It urged Muslims worldwide to actively participate in the al-Quds Day rallies. Al-Quds Day, which falls on May 31 this year, is an annual event observed on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Iran and several Arab countries to support the Palestinian cause.
The Iranian foreign ministry also slammed a U.S.-devised peace plan, so-called Deal of the Century, on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
U.S. President Donald Trump plans to roll out the long-awaited peace plan after Ramadan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The plan is expected to be revealed at a Washington-led economic conference in Bahrain in June.
"If the deal is implemented, it will be an eternal loss for Palestine and a major gain for its occupiers," the Iranian foreign ministry said.
On Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the U.S. and its cronies will fail to impose the "Deal of the Century" on Palestinians.
Khamenei said defending the Palestinians is both a "humanitarian and a religious duty" and urged for world Muslims' participation in this year's al-Quds Day rallies which he said are more important than previous years given the ongoing sensitive developments in the region.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday hailed the Palestinian "defense achievements" against Israel over the past years.
Palestinian resistance fighters are responding to Israel's missiles with "missiles rather than stones," he said.
"There was a time when people of Palestine had only stones at their disposal to defend themselves," Rouhani noted, adding that now they are "capable of giving crushing response to the Israelis."
Western-backed Israeli occupation has robbed Palestinian generations of safety and freedom, Rouhani said, calling for massive turnout of Iranians on the al-Quds Day on Friday to show support for Palestine.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said the Israeli occupied city of Jerusalem belongs to Palestine and the Palestinian nation.
The United States, Israel and their "brutal accomplices" can have no claim over it, Zarif was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency on Wednesday.
In later 2017, Trump recognized the disputed holy city of Jerusalem as Israeli capital and moved the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv last year. The Palestinians want to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
In protest, the Palestinian government has since rejected the Trump administration as the mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and decided to boycott the Deal of the Century.
The Iranian call for massive protests against the U.S. policies on the Israeli-Palestinian peace came amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The U.S. has recently tightened economic sanctions on Iran while increasing its military buildup in the Gulf, in a bid to force Tehran to renegotiate the Iranian nuclear deal that Trump decided to quit last year.
