Araghchi was sarcastically responding to Trump’s comments to ethnically cleanse Gaza [Getty]
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi proposed on Tuesday that Israelis be relocated to Greenland in response to US President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan.
In an interview with Sky News, Araghchi mocked Trump’s comments, which have sparked outrage across the region, and accusations of US plans to ethnically cleanse the decimated Palestinian territory.
“My suggestion is different. Instead of Palestinians, expel Israelis and send them to Greenland so they can kill two birds with one stone,” Araghchi told the news outlet.
Araghchi was also sarcastically referring to Trump’s recent comments on the US acquiring Greenland from Denmark.
This comes after Trump said on Saturday that he would like to “clean out” the civilian population of Gaza, relocating them to Jordan and Egypt.
“I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts that site. And I don’t know, something has to happen.”
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced, often multiple times, by Israel, with at least 47,283 people being killed in the past 15 months as a result.
Both Egypt and Jordan have rejected the plan, despite Trump doubling down on the comments on Monday.
In the interview, Araghchi also addressed US and Israeli threats to attack Iran’s nuclear sites.
“We have made it clear,” Araghchi said, “that any attack on our nuclear facilities would be faced with an immediate and decisive response. But I don’t think they will do that crazy thing. This is really crazy. And this would turn the whole region into a very bad disaster.”
Addressing the possibility of renewed negotiations over its nuclear program, Araghchi told Sky News that while Tehran is willing to hear President Trump out, reaching an agreement will be far more challenging than in 2018, when the original nuclear deal was finalised.
Responding to Trump’s previous comment that reaching a nuclear deal with Tehran would be “nice”, Aragchi said, “Lots of things should be done by the other side to buy our confidence… We haven’t heard anything but the ‘nice’ word, and this is obviously not enough.”
