Hamas is an Arm of Iranian Power

Ever since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, there has been speculation about the precise connection between Hamas and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Israeli disengagement plan was supposed to produce a more stable outcome and not four Israeli-Palestinian wars

Iran and Hamas are not natural allies. Hamas, according to its own charter, is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a network of Sunni organizations operating in nearly 130 countries. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has been a Shiite theocracy, seeking to spread its Shiite doctrine around the Middle East and beyond at the expense of the Sunni world. Hamas had strategic ties with Sunni powers. In the late 1990s, between 50 and 70 percent of the Hamas budget came from Saudi Arabia

But Iran’s role in Hamas has only grown. Only last week, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political bureau, reportedly spoke on the telephone with Esmail Qaani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the man who replaced the notorious General Qassem Suleimani.

To understand Iran’s importance to Hamas, it is critical to recall the remarks of the Hamas representative in Lebanon that “Iran is the only country that supports the resistance with money and weapons”.