Hamas: A New Chapter in Relations with Iran Has Opened

Following a meeting between a high-ranking Hamas delegation and Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Palestinian group announced the 'opening of a new chapter' in relations with Tehran. The Hamas delegation, led by Ezzat al-Rishq, met with Zarif in Tehran on Monday, August 7. In its statement, Hamas wrote that the agreement with Iran was 'in response to a common enemy and support for Palestine, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and resistance.' The group's reference to the 'common enemy' was Israel. Hamas quoted Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying that Iran is also 'ready to set aside all differences in support of the Palestinian people and Islamic unity.' According to Hamas's statement, the Iranian Foreign Minister emphasized 'the importance of the Palestinian issue in Tehran's foreign policy' and 'the necessity of relations with Palestinian resistance groups, primarily Hamas,' adding that 'Tehran will continue to support the Palestinian people and their resistance in line with this unchanging position.' The Hamas delegation was invited to Tehran to participate in the swearing-in ceremony of Hassan Rouhani's second presidential term. According to the state news agency IRNA, Hamas members also met with Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Parliament, who was the main inviter of this delegation. Meanwhile, the presence of this delegation in Tehran for the first time since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war has been interpreted by some observers as Hamas's positive response to a recent message from Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, to Hamas leaders. Relations between Iran and Hamas had cooled six years ago after the group refrained from siding with Iran regarding Syria. Qassem Soleimani had written two and a half months ago in a message to Ismail Haniyeh, the new head of Hamas's political bureau, who succeeded Khaled Mashal, and Yahya Sinwar (Abu Ibrahim), the new internal leader of Hamas in Gaza, that 'we are committed to strengthening relations with our friends in Hamas who are our allies in the resistance axis, in order to restore the Palestinian issue to its rightful place.' The Israeli website 'Walla' recently reported that recent internal elections in Hamas, including the selection of Yahya Sinwar and Saleh al-Arouri to key positions, as individuals who have been in the Iran-supporting faction of the group, have contributed to the warming of relations between the two sides. Websites close to the Revolutionary Guards and supporting conservatives in Iran also considered these changes to be in favor of Iran. For instance, the website 'Farda' wrote: 'We are witnessing a change in the management spectrum of Hamas, from the political group outside Gaza to the political-military spectrum within Gaza, and experience has shown that this spectrum has a more resistant approach and is closer to Iran's policy.' The renewed closeness of Hamas to Iran comes at a time when some Iranian officials and several commanders of the Revolutionary Guards had previously expressed dissatisfaction with Hamas's approach in recent years. Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah Lebanon, also revealed last year in a speech that a Hamas delegation had told Saudi leaders during a meeting that 'Iran has provided us with financial, military, and training support, but if Saudi Arabia supports us and gives us weapons, we will cut ties with Iran.' Despite this, following recent internal changes in Hamas and the message from the commander of the Quds Force to the new leaders of this group, new movements in Hamas-Iran relations in the region have recently been observed. Among them, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the international advisor to the Speaker of Parliament, met last week in Lebanon with several senior Hamas figures. Amir-Abdollahian, who was previously the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, stated in his meeting with Hamas leaders in Beirut that Iran emphasizes continued support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad as the 'resistance front' in their battle against the 'Zionist regime.' In this meeting, Osama Hamdan, the head of Hamas's international affairs who lives in Lebanon, Ali Barakeh, the official representative of Hamas in Lebanon, and Saleh al-Arouri, the commander of Hamas's overseas operations who recently moved from Turkey to Lebanon, were present. The 'new era' in Hamas-Iran relations comes at a time when Israel, the United States, and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist group. Hamas is the main rival of the Fatah organization, and recently, the differences between them have deepened more than ever. In this regard, Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, stated on Saturday: 'As long as Hamas does not commit to reconciliation and does not relinquish its rule in the Gaza Strip, my government will continue to reduce the budget for the Gaza Strip.' In 2007, during armed clashes that resulted in over a hundred deaths, Hamas expelled the rival Fatah movement and the Palestinian Authority from Gaza. Until recently, the Hamas government had control over Gaza, but despite a superficial reconciliation and the dissolution of the Hamas government, this movement still practically holds power in Gaza.