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Mohammad Bagheri
Photo: Vahid Salemi / dpa
Ismail Haniyyeh is on a very special journey this week. The head of the Hamas politburo, who lives in exile in Qatar, meets the most important decision-makers in Iran - first the foreign minister, then the spiritual leader, Audi, and now Iran's chief of general staff.
Almost six months after the start of the Gaza war, Mohammed Bagher praised Hamas' fight, the Iranian news agency Tasnim reported on Friday. Referring to the October 7 massacre in Israel, Bagheri said: "This proud operation has dismantled the myth of the indestructible criminal Israel and made Palestine the priority issue in the Islamic and entire world," said the major general.
Haniyyeh is in Iran for talks for the second time since the Gaza war broke out. Tehran is considered the main supporter of the Islamist organization, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU, the USA and Israel. Iran's leadership rejects any direct involvement in the brutal attack on October 7th. The head of the militant Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad, Sijad al-Nachala, also came to Tehran again.
Haniyyeh arrived for talks in the Islamic Republic on Tuesday, a day after the adoption of a UN resolution that called for an "immediate ceasefire" for the first time.
The war between Israel and Hamas was triggered by their brutal attack on Israel, in which, according to Israeli figures, around 1,140 people were killed and around 250 others were kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Since the Hamas attack, Israel has taken massive military action in the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, more than 32,300 people have now been killed.
Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Israel has been Iran's declared archenemy. Since the 1990s, Tehran has expanded its political and military ties in the region to create an "axis of resistance" against Israel with the support of Shiite militias.
dop/dpa/AFP