Tehran - Iran has started extensive diplomatic efforts to stop the conflict in the Gaza Strip, Mehr news agency on Wednesday quoted Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan
Ghashghavi as saying.

Ghashghavi said that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dispatched 22 envoys to several Asian and European states with the aim of "an immediate stop of Zionists'
(Israeli) aggressions and blockade of Gaza."

The spokesman did not clarify to which countries the president's envoys would be dispatched but said that the diplomatic operation would be directed by the foreign
ministry.

Iran is on the side of the Hamas group in the ongoing conflict and has harshly criticized the United Nations for not adopting resolutions to stop Israeli attacks and some of
the Arab states for not taking the side of Hamas.

Ghashghavi called the Israeli attacks an "international plot" and accused some regional countries with being part of the plot. He gave no names.

Ahmadinejad said last week that "those who have openly or secretly tied their interests to the Zionists (Israel) should know that they will eventually go all together to hell."

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that Israel could never eliminate the Hamas group, adding that "the Israelis should take the wish of an end to Palestinian
resistance into their grave." (dpa)