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Khamenei at a military ceremony
Photo: Khamenei.ir / AFP
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has denied involvement in Hamas' terror attack on Israel. "Supporters of the Zionist regime" had spread nonsensical words, the Ayatollah said during a speech in Tehran. They would have blamed Iran for the attacks. "You are making a mistake," Khamenei said, according to a translation by the dpa news agency.
"Of course we are defending Palestine. Of course, we defend the fights," the 84-year-old continued. We kiss the foreheads and arms of the imaginative and intelligent designers and the courageous Palestinian youth, we are proud of them," Khamenei said. Of course, the entire Islamic world is obliged to support the Palestinians and will support them with God's permission, but this is the work of the Palestinians themselves."
On X, formerly Twitter, Khamenei made similar comments. The Ayatollah is considered the most powerful man in Iran and has the final say in all strategic matters. A few days before the attacks, Khamenei had reiterated Iran's threats to destroy Israel. "This cancer, God willing, will be eradicated once and for all by the Palestinian people and the resistance forces throughout the region," he said.
Iran supports terrorist groups both in the Gaza Strip and in neighboring countries in the region. As early as the 1990s, Tehran expanded its political and military relations in the region in order to create an "axis of resistance" against Israel with the support of Shiite militias.
After the Hamas attack, Iran was accused of being directly involved. A Hamas spokesman told the BBC that the group had received direct support for the attack from Iran. The country has pledged to "stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem." Iran's UN mission in New York rejected the accusations on Sunday.
On Saturday, Hamas carried out the worst bloodbath since the founding of the Israeli state in a major attack on the Israeli border area. At least 900 people were killed and thousands injured in the massacre, including many civilians (see a graphic reconstruction of parts of the events here.) More than 100 people were deported to Gaza by the terrorists.
»Washington Post« reports on months of planning
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing intelligence analysts from the West and the Middle East, that the large-scale attack had been prepared for at least a year. According to her estimates, planning would have begun at least in mid-2022.
Violence in the Middle East: The Real Profiteers of the Attack on IsraelDer Spiegel Editorial by René Pfister, Washington
Hamas Attack on Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu's Strategic MistakesAn Analysis by Richard C. Schneider
+++ Attack on Israel +++:Federal Prosecutor's Office investigates Hamas
Circumventing High-Tech Defenses: Why the Border Fence Couldn't Secure IsraelBy Christoph Seidler
Iran's exact role remains unclear, but Iranian allies are said to have provided military training, logistical assistance and tens of millions of dollars in weapons. Iran has publicly boasted of its great support for Hamas. "When you train people to use weapons, you expect them to use them at some point," a Western intelligence official told the newspaper. However, according to American and Israeli officials, there is no clear evidence that Iran authorized or directly coordinated the attack.
Jonathan Finer, the White House's deputy national security adviser, spoke to CBS News of Iran's complicit behavior. "Iran has been Hamas' main financial backer for decades. He supplied them with weapons. They trained them. They supported them financially."
Meetings between Iran's leadership and Hamas representatives have taken place several times in the recent past. At the end of June, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya traveled to Tehran and spoke with Khamenei. At the end of August, the Iranian foreign minister traveled to Beirut, where he met leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants. The Shiite organization Hezbollah, which is influential in Lebanon, is also closely allied with Iran. As recently as Monday, Hezbollah clashed with Israel on the border in southern Lebanon.
slü/dpa