NEW YORK, July 16. /TASS/. Iran rejects US President Joe Biden’s plan for the Gaza settlement and condemns Washington for not being an "honest mediator" because of its supplies of lethal weapons to Israel, Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said.

"We believe that, in this regard, the United States of America is not an honest mediator regarding the issue of Palestine and Gaza," he said in an interview with the Newsweek weekly. "Today the United States of America is the biggest and the most important country that is providing the Zionists with these state-of-the-art fatal weapons in order to kill the innocent and helpless people across Gaza and Palestine, including women, children, youth, as well as elderly people."

"If the Americans are honest regarding the mediation, it is not necessary for them to make a big deal, it would just be enough to stop the delivery of fatal weapons to Israel," he said and called on the UN Security Council to "make use of all its potentials and capacities to stop the Zionists from continuing the atrocities and killings of the innocent people of Gaza, particularly women and children."

On July 15, Bagheri Kani arrived in New York to attend ministerial meetings of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East.

On May 31, US President Joe Biden announced his three-phase Israel-Palestine ceasefire plan, with each phase lasting six weeks. The first stage envisages a complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from populated localities in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian inmates from Israeli prisons. Apart from that, the parties are supposed to begin talks during this stage, with the ceasefire staying in place until they reach an agreement. Phase two provides for the release of all surviving hostages, including the military. The third stage will see the beginning of the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Dmitry Gendelman, adviser to the Israeli prime minister’s office, told TASS on July 15 that Hamas wanted to introduce 29 amendments to the Gaza ceasefire plan supported by US President Joe Biden but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected all of them.