Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday lashed out against renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, calling on the Muslim world to support the Palestinian cause and condemn Israel:

“The Muslim world must not back down from its support for Palestine, and it should condemn the oppressive action of fierce Zionist wolves and their international supporters,” AFP quoted him as saying.

Khamenei declared that peace would force “the Palestinians to relinquish their rights,” going on to insist that the U.S. would be a poor mediator in the talks because it supports Israel.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says the US-hosted talks will “definitely damage the Palestinian side and force the Palestinians to “abandon their rights and encourage the occupier.”

He says the “US is not a real mediator, it stands by the Zionists.”

Khamenei’s comments, which were made by the Iranian leader on the occasion of Id al-Fitr, came a day after the U.S. State Department confirmed that formal peace talks would resume next week in Jerusalem, marking the first in nearly three years that Palestinians have been willing to return to the negotiating table.

[Photo: بنیاد حفظ آثار و نشر ارزش های دفاع مقدس /Wiki Commons]