Speaking at the 40th International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran, Pezeshkian said defending Iran should not be viewed as hostility toward Muslim or neighboring nations.
“Defending Iran does not mean being hostile toward Muslim and neighboring nations,” he said. “No Muslim country should allow its territory to become a launching pad for aggression against another Muslim country. No Islamic country should seek its own security through the insecurity of its neighbors.”
Pezeshkian said Iran was extending its hand to neighboring countries to establish such security arrangements, stressing that the initiative was based not on weakness but on the experience of war.
“We must manage the security of the region together,” he said, adding that collective security did not mean countries had to adopt identical foreign policies. Rather, he described it as an exercise in “collective wisdom.”
“If we cannot establish such a framework, how can we speak of a just international order?” he asked.
The Iranian president also called for closer scientific and economic cooperation among Muslim countries. He said scientists from Muslim nations should undertake joint projects and that capital within the Islamic world should circulate among its own countries.
Pezeshkian said Muslim countries had spent years discussing their common enemies, arguing that it was now time to devote equal attention to their shared future.
“This is where the idea of unity reaches the level of governance,” he said.
Pezeshkian also stressed that Islamic unity must be strengthened from within Muslim societies.
“If we want to speak about unity across the Muslim world, we must rebuild and strengthen that unity within our own societies every day,” he said.
He asked whether Muslim countries could manage their differences, protect one another from bloodshed, connect their markets and make decisions about their common interests themselves rather than leaving them to others.
“This is precisely what the Prophet did in Medina and what the Martyred Imam insisted upon throughout his years of responsibility. Unity is not a tactic; it is the strategic path of the Islamic Ummah.”
Addressing the Palestinian issue, Pezeshkian said Iran understood the devastation caused by war and stressed that missiles and bombs made no distinction between Iranian and Arab mothers.
“We know what war is. When a missile or bomb strikes, it makes no distinction between the dreams of an Iranian mother and those of an Arab mother,” he said.
He added that the Islamic Republic had supported Palestine for more than four decades because Palestinians were oppressed, describing support for them as a duty rather than a privilege or favor.
“Islam does not allow us to ask someone about their religion or sect when we want to help them,” Pezeshkian said. “We regard support for Palestine not as a privilege or a favor granted to others, but as a duty.”
Hossein Amiri - seyed mohammad kazemi
