Leading figures of the Palestinian movements Hamas and Islamic Jihadbased in Gaza, held talks in Tehran today with Iranian leaders, as with the president Ibrahim Raisi, who reiterated his support for the Palestinian struggle against Israel.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya arrived in Tehran “at the head of a high-ranking delegation to meet with the authorities of the Islamic Republic”, as reported by the official Iranian news agency Irna.

Also in the Iranian capital since last week is Ziad al-Nakhla, the secretary general of Islamic Jihad (an armed movement considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and the European Union) who held talks today with Iranian President Ibrahim Raishi .

These visits are taking place amid a permanent tension in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the rapprochement between Iran and the Arab countries of the Middle East, mainly with Saudi Arabia, until now a regional rival of Tehran.

As of 2020, Israel has normalized relations with the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan under the so-called Abraham Accords, at the urging of the US.

“The Zionists are seeking to normalize relations with some Arab and Muslim governments in order to discourage the new generation of Palestine from liberating the occupied territories,” Raisi said, according to an official statement issued at the end of the meeting with Nahala.

The head of Islamic Jihad had already been received on Wednesday in Tehran by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

During the meeting, Khamenei expressed satisfaction at the “defeat of the Zionist regime” in the “five-day war,” a reference to the fierce clashes between Israel and armed Palestinian organizations that took place from May 9 to 13, 2023, and left behind the dozens of dead Palestinians.

The Islamic Republic of Iran does not recognize the Israeli state, and support for the Palestinian cause has been a constant of its foreign policy since the 1979 revolution.