EXCLUSIVE: Days Before Sanctions Relief, Iran Offers to Upgrade Relations with Hamas Terrorists
TEL AVIV, Israel – Less than a week before the international community is set to lift a decade of sanctions imposed on the Iranian regime, Teheran has pledged greater financial and political support for Hamas in exchange for a clear condemnation of Saudi Arabia, Hamas sources told Breitbart Jerusalem.
Earlier this month, Khaled Kaddoumi, Hamas’ chargé d’affaires in Tehran, met with Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif, who asked him to convey an urgent message to the organization’s leadership in Qatar, the sources said.
In the message, the Iranians pledged that in exchange for an overt anti-Saudi stance by Hamas, they would increase financial support for the terrorist group and, more importantly, recognize the movement as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, at the expense of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, whose president Mahmoud Abbas is resolutely in the Saudi camp.
Hamas’ diplomatic leader, Khaled Mashaal, submitted the Iranian missive to the organization’s leadership in Gaza, the West Bank, and abroad, which gave rise to disagreements between the different branches, Hamas sources said. Most of the leaders in Gaza view Iran’s offer favorably, the sources added.
Torn by dual loyalty, Hamas has been struggling to navigate the Saudi-Iranian crisis, which has greatly impeded its diplomatic room to maneuver. It has kept mum on the Syria, Yemen, and Iraq conflicts, where Saudi-Iranian tensions have come to the fore.
Senior Hamas official Husam Badran told Breitbart Jerusalem that the movement refuses to comment on the report.
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