Hamas leader seeks more Iranian support during Tehran visit
Amidst Gaza conflict

ANALYTICS  29 March 2024 - 14:59

On March 26, 2024, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh visited Tehran at the head of a high-level delegation on his second visit to Iran since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

As chief of the Hamas's political bureau, Haniyeh played a key role since the first day of the Gaza war on October 2023 and came under fire from the Western states and media for his alleged role in perpetrating brutal attacks on Israel and foreign tourists.

Nevertheless, Haniyeh is actively engaged in diplomatic traffic between Türkiye, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar in an effort to minimize Hamas’s losses and reach a consensus with Israel that would favor the interests of the Palestinian cause.

In this regard, Haniyeh’s visit to Iran is more than a coincidence as Israel’s continuous military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip risks total exhaustion of the organization and a mass flood of Palestinians.

According to the Iranian sources, Haniyeh met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, and the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Abdollahian to discuss Tehran’s further support of Hamas in its fight against the Israeli forces in Gaza.

Moreover, Khamenei hailed resistance groups — a network of regional militant organizations fighting Israel — for their "exceptional resilience," which he described as a "truly magnificent phenomenon.”

Iran has been a staunch Hamas supporter since the group was founded in 1987. Tehran is believed to have increasingly trained and funded the group, providing it with rockets, missiles, and drones and particularly helping it set up a complex maze of underground tunnels in Gaza to shield its equipment and infrastructure from Israeli strikes.

The “axis of resistance” is a network of autonomous militant Islamist groups through which Iran can project power, determine the course of events, and deter attacks by Israel or the United States (US). The traces of the so-called resistance have become more violent recently in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq.

As such, the chaos in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen opened new opportunities for expansion of the resistance ideology across the region. The idea of resistance against Israel and its Western partners and unity messages comes after years of sectarianism in the Middle East.

Despite international reaction and calls for a ceasefire, Hamas and Israel are still far from reaching a consensus despite the mounting number of casualties on both sides. On the contrary, in Tehran, Haniyeh said that Hamas is transitioning into a new phase of war with Israel., citing that Iran stands at the forefront of supporting the cause and people of Palestine. Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic denied any involvement in the October attacks on Israel.

Haniyeh's trip to Tehran comes one day after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for an "immediate" ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan — which ends in two weeks — and the "unconditional" release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas inside the enclave. The resolution was passed only after the United States changed its earlier course and decided not to use its veto power to block the move.

While Hamas and Iran sought to alienate and isolate Israel internationally amid the war, Iran’s hesitant to enter the direct war with Israel triggered criticism within the axis of resistance. Therefore, the sources claim, the Iranian president asked Haniyeh to "silence those voices" in Hamas, calling for Iran and its proxy terror group Hezbollah to directly join the war against Israel "in full force."

In addition, Hamas likely seeks more Iranian military and financial assistance in light of the war as the group suffers significant losses, particularly among its top hierarchy.

In March 2022, Haniyeh revealed that Iran paid a total of $70 million to Hamas to help it develop missiles and defence systems. According to Haniyeh, different countries help finance the group, but Iran is the biggest donor. In 2018, US President Donald Trump’s special Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt, claimed that Iran provided $100 million annually to Hamas, compared to $700 million annually to Hezbollah.

However, due to the changing situation on the ground, it is unlikely that Iran will double its financial support to Hamas as its victory over Israel seems unreal, while regional tensions in the Middle East may inflict damage to Iran's own positions.

Caliber.Az