Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad ZarifReuters

Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Sunday criticized the United Nations for failing to end “the Zionist regime’s” crimes, AFP reported.

The comments came in a conversation with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as Zarif conducted a hefty round of telephone diplomacy to rally support and humanitarian aid for Gazans.

He also spoke with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and other regional leaders, stressing that the priority was to get food and medical aid into areas worst hit by Israel's military offensive, Iran's official IRNA news agency said.

According to AFP, in his conversation with Ban Zarif said the UN was "not taking serious action to bring an end to crimes committed by the Zionist regime."

The UN chief responded by saying that the best efforts were being made "to initiate and maintain a sustainable ceasefire and put an end to the siege", IRNA reported.

Zarif also spoke to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Iyad Ameen Madani, secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, and Qatar and Turkey's foreign ministers.

He also spoke with Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group.

"Islamic states have huge resources and are capable enough to render invaluable services and assistance to people in Gaza," Zarif said in his conversation with Madani, according to IRNA, urging the OIC to cooperate with the Arab League and Egypt in getting aid into Gaza.

He urged all countries to increase pressure on Israel and its allies to "immediately halt their aggression" and said "any truce should go in parallel with removal of a blockade on the Gaza Strip".

Zarif said Iranian hospitals were ready to receive wounded Gazans and that the Islamic republic would send doctors and nurses to Gaza.

Iran’s parliament speaker boasted on Thursday that it was his country that provided Hamas with the technology it has used to rain down rockets on Israel from Gaza.

"Today, the fighters in Gaza have good capabilities and can meet their own needs for weapons," speaker Ali Larijani was quoted as having told the Arabic service of state television.

"But once upon a time, they needed the arms manufacture know-how and we gave it to them," he said.

During the last major conflict in and around Gaza in November 2012,Larijani said Iran was "proud" to have provided "both financial and military support" to Hamas.

On Wednesday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the Palestinian Arabs to keep fighting Israel and to expand their resistance from Gaza to Judea and Samaria.