Mohammad Mokhber Emphasizes Iran's Continued Support for Palestinian Islamic Jihad

The interim head of the Iranian presidency announced that the fundamental strategy of the Islamic Republic in supporting the resistance movement, especially Palestinian resistance groups, "will not change with personnel changes." Mohammad Mokhber, the first vice president of Ebrahim Raisi, who is currently overseeing this institution until the presidential elections on July 8, made this statement in a conversation with Ziad al-Nakhala, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Organization. Iranian officials refer to their supported militia groups in the region as the "resistance movement." In this conversation, Mokhber added that "serious support for the resistance and support for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people" were concerns of the deceased President and Foreign Minister of Iran. According to Iranian media, Mohammad Mokhber spoke with Ziad al-Nakhala on Saturday night, May 25. What Iran calls the "axis of resistance," especially the groups of "Palestinian resistance," includes extremist groups like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other organizations in Palestinian territories and the Middle East that fight in line with the Islamic Republic of Iran's goals for the "destruction of Israel." These groups are described by Israel, some regional countries, and the world, as well as by the United States and the European Union, as terrorist entities that have pursued their goals for decades through attacks on Israel, its citizens, military personnel, and interests worldwide. Israel and the West have long believed that Tehran is a financial and military supporter of these groups. Following the deaths of Ebrahim Raisi and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the foreign minister, in a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran on May 30, Tehran emphasized that these two officials supported the extremist Hamas group's war against Israel. In response to an airstrike attributed to Israel on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, on the evening of Saturday and early Sunday, April 15, the Islamic Republic of Iran launched hundreds of missiles towards Israel in an operation called "Promise Fulfilled," all of which were intercepted. According to ISNA, Mokhber praised this missile attack in his phone conversation with Ziad al-Nakhala, considering it "one of the results of the resistance movement." A delegation of Hamas leaders from outside Palestinian territories participated last Wednesday in the funeral prayer and burial ceremony of Ebrahim Raisi and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran, where Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau, was the main speaker for senior military and political officials of Iran, foreign delegations, and other participants in the ceremony. Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told Hamas leaders in a separate meeting at his residence on Wednesday that the promise of establishing a Palestinian state from "the sea to the river" and the destruction of Israel is "achievable." Hamas leaders and other Iranian proxy groups in the region also participated in a meeting in Tehran on Thursday with Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Ismail Qaani, the commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had met several times with Ismail Haniyeh and leaders of groups aligned with Tehran since the outbreak of the Gaza war and was scheduled to visit Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, in Lebanon on June 24. Israeli media, following the helicopter crash that involved senior Iranian officials, examined the "key" role of Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in coordinating the Islamic Republic of Iran with Tehran's proxy groups in the Middle East. According to Israeli media, the departure of such an experienced individual, who had decades of close relations with the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Houthi leaders, Iraqi Shiites, Bahrainis, and leaders of armed Palestinian organizations, especially the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Organization, such as Ramadan Abdullah Shalah and Ziad al-Nakhala, would be a blow to these types of collaborations from Tehran. Officials close to the leader of the Islamic Republic have recently stated in government media that a new president will come to power who will have similar positions to Ebrahim Raisi, and the Iranian government will pursue its policy of supporting Palestinians and confronting Israel under any circumstances.