Iranian MP: Conditions Still Not Right for Gaza Visit
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian lawmaker said the conditions are still not right to dispatch a delegation of MPs to the Gaza Strip via Egypt, but noted that diplomatic efforts are still underway to make the visit happen.
“We are insistent on visiting Gaza and will employ the whole diplomatic capacities to that end, but in the current situation, the conditions for the visit are not appropriate,” Esmail Kowsari, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission told the Tasnim News Agency on Friday.
He stressed that a delegation of lawmakers were fully prepared to pay a visit to Gaza as planned, but the lack of Egypt’s cooperation with the Iranian Parliament has obstructed the visit.
“We hope the Egyptian government would immediately remove the obstacles to the Iranian delegates’ trip,” Kowsari added.
After Israel opened assault on the Gaza Strip on July 8, a six-member panel of Iranian legislators decided to travel to the blockaded enclave to provide relief supplies for the war-torn residents and meet the bereaved families of victims of the Israeli onslaught.
But the delegation is first required to obtain a visa to enter Egypt, which controls Rafah border crossing, the only window to the outside world for the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Speaking to Tasnim on August 5, Iranian MP Hassan Kamran explained that Cairo has sent a letter to the Iranian Parliament, imposing conditions on the planned visit to Gaza.
Cairo has instructed that the Iranian delegation’s trip to Gaza be made exclusively for providing relief supplies, Kamran said.
He added that Egypt has also set conditions on the type of Iran’s humanitarian and medical aids for Gaza, the way those supplies could be delivered to the enclave, and has also provided a framework for the members of the delegation.
