TEHRAN -- Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal here on Saturday expressed concern about continued suppression and massacre of the defenseless Palestinian people.

Kharrazi and Al-Faisal also condemned the Zionist regime for its efforts to escalate crisis and tension in the region.

They stressed restoration of the Palestinian people's rights and and called for an end to their massacre by Israel.

The two ministers stressed the need to force Israel to bow to the UN Security Council resolutions and praised the role of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in benefiting from the important status and potential of Muslim states to promote international peace and security.

Kharrazi said, "Palestine is the most important issue of the world of Islam and Muslim states should take concrete actions in line with the wishes of Muslim nations to support the brave Palestinian nation.

"The U.S. is supporter of world's major racist regime and one-sided support of the U.S. for Israel is a blatant example of discrimination being exercised by the newly founded apartheid regime (Israel) in the Middle East. "The U.S. is encouraging application of the sophisticated weapons to suppress civilians." "The wrong policies of the U.S. in the region have turned the region into a scene of massacre of the defenseless Palestinian people," said Kharrazi adding that "wide-scale condemnation of the recent crimes of the Israel in Gaza is reflection of the growing concern of the world public opinion over continued one-sided support of the U.S. for that country." He said, "Arms embargo against Israel is an important move -- something which Muslim states should seriously follow, and support for the Palestinian nation's struggles in this sensitive juncture in the Palestinian history is of high importance."

He recalled the "positive" role and activities of different Muslim states to help with a fair settlement of the Palestinian issue and restore lasting peace to the region. Al-Faisal for his part said, "His country is for restoration of the rights of Palestinians and looks at it as a means for restoration of permanent peace to the region."

He stressed the need for adoption of strategies to maintain stability and promote security in the region. Touching on international developments in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on the U.S., Al-Faisal said, "It is necessary for Muslim states to build up efforts to prevent distortion of Islamic feature and to present the peaceful feature of Islam and Muslims." Kharrazi and Al-Faisal said, "Tehran and Riyadh oppose attack on a Muslim state and called for adoption of a peaceful strategy to that end."

The prospect for promotion of Tehran-Riyadh ties, regional cooperation and exploitation of facilities available in the region is promising, they concluded.