Iran denounced on Thursday a statement by the Group of Seven that called on it to stop supporting the Palestinian Hamas movement and to take steps that “destabilize” the Middle East.

This call comes at a time when Israel has been relentlessly bombing the besieged Gaza Strip for more than a month, claiming that it wants to destroy Hamas in response to the unprecedented attack carried out by the Palestinian Islamic movement on October 7 on Israeli territory.

The foreign ministers of the G7 countries, meeting in Tokyo, urged Iran on Wednesday not to support Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah and not to do anything that could “destabilize the Middle East.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Thursday strongly condemned this statement.

He said, "Since the beginning of the current crisis in Gaza, the Islamic Republic of Iran has begun continuous efforts to stop the military attacks now being launched by the Zionist aggressor against Gaza and to save the lives of its defenseless citizens and residents," according to what the IRNA news agency reported in Arabic.

Kanaani added, "What was expected of the G7 foreign ministers in Tokyo was to fulfill their international responsibility, including condemning Zionist actions in Gaza, which violate human rights and international law, and stopping support for war crimes and genocide in Gaza."

The Group of Seven major industrialized countries (the United States, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Canada) also called for “truces and humanitarian corridors” in Gaza to protect civilians.