Iran, Hamas' friend and Israel's enemy
Iran celebrated the Hamas militia operation against Israel with congratulations and fireworks. It was no wonder since Tehran is one of the main allies of the Palestinian group and leads the so-called Axis of Resistance against the Jewish State, its nemesis.
"Go ahead, in the name of God," Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei said in Arabic in a video posted on his website about the unexpected and ambitious Palestinian attack.
The religious man adds in Persian; "the decadence of the Zionist regime has begun and will not stop".
The Iranian Parliament yesterday witnessed scenes of jubilation, with deputies on their feet shouting "Israel will be destroyed, Palestine will win", while in the evening the sky of Tehran was lit up with fireworks in celebration.
The Islamic Republic of Iran and Israel are bitter enemies, pose an existential threat to each other, compete for regional hegemony and maintain a covert war with cyber-attacks, assassinations and sabotage.
In this "shadow" conflict and to expand its regional influence, Tehran supports groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Palestinian Hamas movement, Islamic Jihad and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Ties with Hamas
Ties between Tehran and Hamas date back to the 1980s, and after some disagreements in recent years over Syria, they continue to this day, with economic, but also military and technological support.
In fact, a Hamas spokesman told the BBC that the group "has had the support of its ally, Iran" for the surprise attack, which is causing hundreds of dead and wounded.
From Tehran they have neither confirmed nor denied this alleged support although for the Israeli government there is no doubt about it.
"Supported and directed by their commanders in Iran, They (Hamas) have carried out an unprovoked and cruel attack against the Jewish State on a Jewish holiday," said Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Riyadh-Tel Aviv negotiations
For the journalist and writer Kim Ghattas, the preparation of the surprise attack must have taken months of preparation and must have "external support from Iran or Hezbollah", as she indicated on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
And he pointed as one of the possible causes to the diplomatic normalization negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, mediated by the United States, which would make Riyadh give up its historic demand for a Palestinian state before normalization.
In recent years, Tehran has seen several Muslim countries, such as the United Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain, establish diplomatic relations with its archenemy.
A rapprochement between Riyadh and Tel Aviv provokes dread in Tehran, which has repeatedly criticized the negotiations in recent weeks.
Khamenei said five days ago that normalization of relations with Israel is "betting on the losing horse" and predicted the end of the Jewish state.
Shortly before, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi had already lashed out against the negotiations and stated that the liberation of Jerusalem is the "most important" issue in the Muslim world.
"The way to fight the enemy is not surrender or compromise, but confrontation and resistance that forces the enemy to withdraw," Raisi said at the time.
Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed in March with Chinese mediation to normalize their diplomatic relations, broken since 2016, which was a diplomatic success for Tehran.
Also an Iranian victory was its inclusion in the BRICS group of emerging economies as well as its joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which has partly broken its international isolation.
The rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel would be a major setback for Iran, which already suffered a setback a few days ago when the imprisoned journalist Narges Mohammadi received the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle for the rights of Iranian women.
