Diplomatic Correspondent

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that the time had come for action over the conflict in Gaza rather than talk as he headed to Saudi Arabia to attend a summit on the war between Israel and Hamas militants. "Gaza is not an arena for words. It should be for action," Raisi said at Tehran airport before departing for the summit of Arab and Islamic nations in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh. "Today, the unity of the Islamic countries is very important," he added.

It is the first visit to Saudi Arabia by an Iranian head of state since Tehran and Riyadh ended years of hostility under a China-brokered deal in March. "The summit will send a strong message to warmongers in the region and result in the cessation of war crimes in Palestine," Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who is accompanying Raisi, was quoted as saying by the Padolat government website.

Iranian president blames US ‘expanding the scope of the war’ in comments ahead of his first trip to Riyadh since countries restored ties The emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) comes after Tehran-backed Hamas’s October 7 massacre in which terrorists killed about 1,200 people and took at least 240 hostages to Gaza.

Israel’s subsequent aerial and ground offensive has killed more than 12,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The terror group’s figures cannot be independently verified, and include members of Hamas as well as Gazans killed by rocket misfires by terrorists.

The Arab League and the OIC were originally meant to meet separately, but the Saudi foreign ministry announced early Saturday that the blocs’ summits would be combined. The move underscores the importance of reaching “a unified collective position that expresses the common Arab and Islamic will regarding the dangerous and unprecedented developments witnessed in Gaza and the Palestinian territories,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Middle East leaders have called for a ceasefire while warning the conflict risks drawing in other countries, a threat Raisi on Saturday blamed on Washington’s staunch support for Israel. “The war machine in Gaza belongs to the US,” he said before departing for Riyadh. “The US has prevented the ceasefire in Gaza and is expanding the scope of the war.” Several Western governments have called for a “humanitarian pause” in Israel’s offensive, but not for an immediate ceasefire. For its part, Israel has maintained the stance that Hamas would use a ceasefire to regroup, and that one cannot be implemented without the release of the hostages held by terrorists in the Strip.

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman condemned “continued violations of international humanitarian law by the Israeli occupation forces,” his first public comments on the war, though Riyadh has leveled similar criticism in multiple statements.

But in March, a China-brokered deal saw the long-time rivals agree to restore diplomatic relations and reopen their respective embassies. Iran and Saudi Arabia have backed opposing sides in conflict zones across the Middle East for years, including in Yemen, where in 2015, Riyadh mobilized an international coalition against Iran-backed Houthi rebels who had toppled the internationally recognized government the previous year. Houthis have launched a number of attacks on Israel in recent weeks, and there are concerns that Tehran may try to widen the conflict using its regional proxies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror organization.

"America says it doesn't want an expansion of the war and has sent messages to Iran and several countries. But these statements are not consistent with America's actions," Raisi said in the televised comments at Tehran airport.

"The war machine in Gaza is in the hands of America, which is preventing a ceasefire in Gaza and expanding the war. The world must see the true face of America," Raisi said. Saudi Arabia on Saturday hosts a joint Arab League and Islamic Organization of Cooperation summit on Gaza. Saudi Foreign Ministry said the meeting "will be held in response to the exceptional circumstances taking place in the Palestinian Gaza Strip as countries feel the need to unify efforts and come out with a unified collective position."

Saudi Press Agency U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The said unity would require the forum participants - Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Turkey and others - to overcome the existing contradictions. The summit comes after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hosted the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Riyadh earlier in October.