General Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to the Palestinian resistance in a secret meeting with Hamas’s delegation to Iran on Wednesday, al-Mayadeen Arab news site reported.
The Palestinian delegation, headed by the chairman of Hamas’s political bureau, Musa Abu Marzouk, met secretly with senior Iranian figures, including the secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, Shura Council Chairman Ali Larijani and Qassem Suleimani.
“During the meeting, the senior Iranian officials updated Hamas’s delegation about the expected developments in the region,” a member of the Hamas delegation said.
“The circumstances under which Hamas’s relations with Iran were created before 2011 have changed. The world has changed since the Arab Spring, both Iran and Hamas are not the same. Thus, we need to build our relations on new foundations,” he added.
According to the Hamas member, Suleimani was greatly offended by Abu Marzouk’s remarks criticizing Iran for not aiding the Palestinian resistance. In January, the London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat exposed a recording of a private conversation between Abu Marzouk and an unidentified person in which the former blamed Iran for lying about aid to Hamas.
“Suleimani told Hamas’s delegation that Iran was a staunch supporter of the Palestinian resistance before the nuclear deal and it will remain so after the deal. He emphasized that during the negotiations with Western powers, Iran never surrendered to the American pressure to make concessions on the Palestinian issue and refused to even open it to debate,” the source within Hamas added.
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