TEHRAN — Iran’s foreign ministry on Tuesday welcomed the Palestinian admission to UNESCO and criticised the US reaction to cease payments to the international organisation over the decision.
“The membership of Palestine is a symbolic act that (proves) global support for Palestinian rights,” ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at his weekly media conference, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Turning to Washington’s decision to suspend payments to UNESCO in retaliation, Mehmanparast advised the US government to not jeopardise its “honour” by opposing the rights of other nations.
“The United States must know its blind support of the Zionist regime (Israel) has no place in world public opinion,” he said.
The Palestinian bid for UNESCO membership, which comes as the Palestinians also seek to become a United Nations member state, was approved Monday in Paris despite strong opposition from the United States and Israel.
The vote will cost the organisation its US funding, which makes up 22 percent of its budget, because US laws from the 1990s require Washington to cut funds to any UN organisation that admits Palestine as a full member.
The Palestinians could now seek full membership of other UN organisations such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the World Health Organisation, the International Civil Aviation Organisation, or the International Atomic Energy Agency.