Iranian security officials may have helped Hamas plan and even gave the go-ahead for a key attack as the Islamist political and military organization began its offensive against Israel over the past several days.
Senior members of Hamas and Lebanon-based Hezbollah, a militant faction that receives backing from Iran, told the Wall Street Journal Iran had a hand in organizing the multifaceted assault by Hamas.
The onslaught, which has so far killed over 1,200 people in Israel and is said to be part of a broader strategy to lay siege to Israel on multiple fronts, was discussed during several meetings in Beirut attended by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members told the WSJ.
Iran has been deliberate in settling other disputes so that it could turn its focus to what it calls “the Zionist entity,” the WSJ reported. As The Dallas Express previously reported, Iran and Saudi Arabia recently restored diplomatic relations through talks brokered by China.
A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nation denied the country had a role in directing Hamas’ actions, but noted the Islamic Republic supported the actions taken, according to the WSJ report.
A U.S. official told the WSJ they “don’t have any information at this time to corroborate this account” in regards to the meetings.
In addition to Iran’s effort to settle disputes, there remains the recent unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian funds. The move returning the funds to Iranian control was part of a prisoner swap consummated in September by the Biden administration, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Many politicos have connected the pay-off to the attack by Hamas, arguing that once Tehran knew the money was back in its hands, it could reallocate resources towards threatening Israel.
The funds reportedly have not been dispersed to Iran, with Qatar overseeing the funds.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN on Sunday, “The facts are these — no U.S. taxpayer dollars were involved. These were Iranian resources that Iran had accumulated from the sale of its oil that were stuck in a bank in South Korea.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, told Newsmax: “We also need to understand what is the source of this terrorism, and the source is Iran. Iran is funding Hamas. Iran is funding Hezbollah, who may be getting into this fight that has been made possible by the Biden administration’s loosening sanctions. Iran has made much more on oil revenue under the Biden administration.
“And then this more recent $6 billion. Yeah, they’re saying, ‘Oh, well, that money could not be used for that,’ and that that may be true. But money’s fungible. So when you give them money, $6 billion for something that they don’t need to use their own money for that, and then they can shift it. And so that’s what’s happened. And they’ve empowered some really, really bad people. They’ve been doing it for years,” DeSantis continued.
