Hamas leadership met with Iranian counterparts in a highly publicized engagement, seemingly to promote and praise the United Nations Security Council resolution urging a cease-fire.
Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas, held a press conference on Monday with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, during which the pair praised the U.N. resolution for serving as a heavy blow to Israel’s political and military goals.
“We are going through a historical stage and a fateful turning point in the context of the historical conflict with the Zionist entity,” Haniyeh said, referring to the Oct. 7 attack as the Al-Aqsa Flood.
Haniyeh also met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to discuss “developments related to the ongoing war on Gaza and all the variables related to the Palestinian issue,” The Jerusalem Post reported.
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Khamenei, meanwhile, praised the “resistance groups” for “exceptional resilience,” Al Monitor reported based on a readout published on the supreme leader’s website. This marks the second time since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that Haniyeh has visited with Iranian leadership.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, right, meets with Ismail Haniyeh, third from left, chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau, in Tehran on March 26, 2024. (Iranian Leader Press Office / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The U.S. decision to abstain from voting on the Security Council resolution allowed the motion to pass. Israeli officials canceled a high-level delegation to Washington, D.C., in response to the vote, which State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller called “surprising and unfortunate.”
Ismail Haniyeh, left, speaks to the press after a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, right, in Tehran on March 26, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear in no uncertain terms that he viewed the abstention as damaging to his country’s position and efforts to stamp out Hamas and obtain the release of all hostages.
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“This withdrawal damages both the war effort and the effort to release the hostages because it gives Hamas hope that international pressure will allow them to accept a cease-fire without the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
The Security Council gathers for a vote at U.N. headquarters in New York City. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told Fox News Digital, “I think by falsely criticizing Israel and agreeing to a U.N. resolution that does not condemn Hamas nor condition a cease-fire on the hostages being released, Biden has given Hamas a huge diplomatic victory.”
Ayatollah Khamenei speaks to journalists after casting his vote in Iranian elections. (Sobhan Farajvan/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Iranian outlet Nour News, which has close ties to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), hailed the U.N. resolution as a “diplomatic triumph” for Hamas. The Iranian Foreign Ministry further claimed that Israel’s outrage over the resolution’s passage indicated “the irreparable defeat it has suffered both in the battlefield and at the international and political stage.”
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Amir-Abdollahian claimed the resolution proved that “Even America and its partners have come to believe that eliminating Hamas… is an illusion and an unachievable goal.”
Iran has served as a strong supporter of Hamas since its foundation in the 1980s, often linked to the terrorist group as a financial and strategic partner to the extent that some have labeled Hamas as a proxy force.
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Initial reports claimed that Iran had helped train Hamas fighters for the Oct. 7 attack, but further evidence found little to support that direct claim, and Iran worked hard to distance itself from Hamas during the early stages of the conflict.
Fox News Digital’s Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.
