Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has called on Muslim states to cease oil and food exports to Israel, demanding an end to its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, state media reported.

“The bombings on Gaza must stop immediately ... the path of oil and food exports to the Zionist regime should be stopped,” Khamenei was quoted as telling a group of students in Tehran. “Islamic governments must insist on quickly ending the crimes.”

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, the Iranian-backed terror group which rules the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for the Oct 7 attack that killed 1,400 people and captured hundreds of hostages.

Israel has launched an unprecedented bombardment of Gaza and imposed a siege of the territory. The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 8,000 people have been killed in retaliatory strikes.

Iran’s clerical rulers have warned Israel of an escalation unless it halts its military response, with authorities indicating Tehran-backed proxies in the Middle East were ready to act.

Backing the Palestinian cause has been a political pillar of the Islamic Republic since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and a way in which its Shia Muslim theocracy has fashioned itself as a leader in the Muslim world.

Khamenei also accused the United States of complicity in Israel’s “recent crimes against Palestinians”.

“The Islamic world should not forget that in the crucial issue of Gaza, those standing against the oppressed Palestinian nation were the United States, France and Britain,” Khamenei said to chants of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America”.

Israel, which Tehran refuses to recognise, has long accused Iran’s clerical rulers of stoking violence by supplying arms to Hamas. Tehran says it only gives moral and financial support to the group.

“One of the shameless acts of the West is accusing Palestinian fighters of terrorism,” Khamenei said.

The White House has accused Iran of “actively facilitating” attacks on US forces in the Middle East.

On Friday, Washington announced a new round of sanctions targeting Hamas’s funding networks and sources of support in Iran.