Iran has signaled it will not challenge Indonesia’s decision to join the U.S.-backed Gaza Peace Council, while sharply criticizing the initiative itself as structurally incapable of resolving the Palestinian conflict.
Iran’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Mohammad Boroujerdi, said Tehran respects Jakarta’s participation in the body, also referred to as the Board of Peace (BoP), despite Iran’s view that the initiative fails to address what it considers the core issue: Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territories.
“Each country pursues its own national interests and political path,” Boroujerdi said following a press conference at his residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Thursday. “We respect the decisions taken by the Indonesian government and the course it has chosen.”
Boroujerdi emphasized that Indonesia’s involvement in the U.S.-initiated mechanism would not affect bilateral relations between Tehran and Jakarta, describing ties between the two countries as longstanding and resilient to differences over third-party initiatives.
While adopting a conciliatory tone toward participating states, Boroujerdi made clear that Iran views the Gaza Peace Council’s framework as fundamentally flawed. According to Tehran’s position, diplomatic initiatives that do not prioritize ending Israeli occupation are unlikely to produce durable outcomes.
“Discussing peace while the occupation continues will not yield results,” Boroujerdi said, arguing that negotiations without addressing territorial control distort the conflict’s underlying dynamics. He likened the approach to “occupying part of someone’s house and then inviting the owner to negotiate.”
Iran has consistently framed the Palestinian issue as a question of occupation rather than governance or reconstruction, placing it at odds with U.S.-led initiatives that emphasize post-conflict administration and economic recovery without explicit political preconditions.
Indonesia formally joined the Gaza Peace Council alongside seven Arab and Muslim-majority states following a joint declaration released on January 22. The statement was signed by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
In the declaration, the ministers welcomed an invitation from U.S. President Donald Trump for their leaders to participate in the council, while noting that formal accession would proceed in accordance with each country’s domestic legal procedures.
The Gaza Peace Council is designed to support the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), established by Washington earlier this month. The body is tasked with overseeing governance, reconstruction, and economic recovery in Gaza under a 20-point peace plan proposed by the Trump administration.
Beyond the eight signatories, several other states, including Israel, Vietnam, Hungary, Argentina, Morocco, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan have announced their participation, signaling broad but politically diverse backing for the initiative.
Iran’s response reflects a broader strategy of maintaining diplomatic flexibility while preserving its long-standing position on Palestine. By separating its critique of the Peace Council’s structure from its bilateral relations with participating states, Tehran appears intent on avoiding diplomatic rupture while sustaining ideological opposition to U.S.-led frameworks in the region.
For Indonesia, participation in the council places Jakarta within a U.S.-facilitated multilateral mechanism while maintaining its public support for Palestinian self-determination, a balancing act that may grow increasingly complex as the initiative moves from formation to implementation.