Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi voiced support for the surprise assault by Hamas, termed the ‘operation’ as an act of self-defense by Palestinians. He then called on Muslim governments to back the Palestinian nation, and their rights while also issuing a warning that Israel must be held accountable for endangering the region.
Raisi spoke by phone with the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two strong resistant’ groups that have been launching rockets at Israel from Gaza. He discussed the developments in Palestine with Ismail Haniyeh, head of political affairs for Hamas, and Ziyad al-Nakhalah, secretary general of the Islamic Jihad Movement, according to state news agency IRNA.
Iran hailed the Palestinian attack, calling it a “proud operation” and a “great victory”. “This victorious operation, which will facilitate and accelerate the collapse of the Zionist regime, promises the impending destruction of the Zionist regime,” said Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“I am congratulating this great and strategic victory, which is a serious warning to all compromisers in the region,” he added in a letter to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, referring presumably to Arab countries that have normalized ties with Israel.