Missile Technology to Hamas
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd L) and Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon (L) look at a display of alleged Iran-supplied and Gaza-bound mortar shells.Amir Cohen/Reuters file photo
A top Iranian military official has admitted that Tehran supplied military technology to the Palestine-based militant group Hamas in its battle against Israel.
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"Palestinian resistance missiles are the blessings of Iran's transfer of technology. We need to transfer defensive and military technology to Palestinians so that they can build weapons under the blockade and defend themselves," Mohsen Rezaei, a senior official at the Expediency Discernment Council, told the state-run Arabic channel Al-Alam.
The EDC is a consultative and decision-making body that advises Grand Ayatollah Sayyid
Ali Khamenei.
Iran, a staunch supporter of Hamas, has constantly condemned the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.
In the past too, Iranian military officials said they had shared missile technologies with Hamas.
In the recent month-long conflict, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said 3,253 rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel.
Most of them were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome while a few fell in empty areas.
In a letter to Iranian President Hassan Rohani, Rezaei said: "I've requested Rohani to provide air defence systems to Gaza so that Palestinians can defend themselves against invading planes. The Americans in recent days approved about $300 million to strengthen [Israel's] Iron Dome. You should provide air defence systems to Palestinians to be able to defend their people against aerial bombardment."
The Iranian defence minister has also expressed support for Hamas. He said the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) is ready to assist Palestine at various levels.
Addressing Iran's military commanders, Hossein Dehqan said: "The usurper Zionist regime should be punished [for their fighting in Gaza]. Today the human society is standing at a strategic decision-making juncture and it has to show that humans, humanity and human life as well as protecting human values are still important."
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Iranian Missiles in Gaza Fight Give Tehran Government a Lift
By
THOMAS ERDBRINKNOV. 21, 2012
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- Iran’s missile abilities. Cars zip underneath the image of a green missile on a launcher and text in Persian saying “Destination Tel Aviv.”
Few here take note of the sign, as average Iranians are too busy trying to cope with rising prices and occasional shortages brought about by a faltering economy. But Iran’s missiles and weapons technology are getting plenty of attention hundreds of miles away in Gaza, giving the country’s ruling clerics a rare bit of good news in what has otherwise been a long, dismal year.
The Israeli attack on the Palestinian coastal strip, and the retaliation by Hamas with Iranian-supplied missiles that brought Israel’s major cities within range for the first time, turned the tables for the Islamic republic. With the declaration of a cease-fire in Gaza, and with President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt earning plaudits for brokering the deal, some of the euphoria in Tehran has been tempered. But the diplomatic gains to Iran from the fighting will remain.
Before Gaza, Iran was reeling from a number of setbacks, and not just the tightening of Western sanctions this summer, which cut oil exports and sent the national currency into free fall.
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Iranian officials have not been shy about taking credit for the changes in the battlefield, even though analysts noted that admitting to transferring weaponry could lead to future reprisals. “We proudly say we support the Palestinians, military and financially,” the head of Iran’s Parliament,
Ali Larijani, told local reporters this week. “The Zionist regime needs to realize that Palestinian military power comes from Iranian military power.”
Mr. Larijani even nodded to the other problems facing Iran, which suddenly did not loom so large. “We may have inflation, unemployment and other economic issues in our country,” he said. “But we are changing the region, and this will be a big achievement.”
The highest commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohammad Ali Jafari, was even more blunt. Missile technology, he said, “has been transferred to the resistance, and an unlimited number of these missiles is being built.”
The celebration in Tehran might not last long, analysts say. Hamas leaders were lavish in their praise of Mr. Morsi for his role in arranging the cease-fire, saying he had well represented the group’s interests. And Egypt could close the tunnels that are used to smuggle the missiles into Gaza.
Nevertheless, they say, the fighting has done much to repair the damage to Iran’s regional image inflicted by the Syrian conflict. “This war has brought Iran and Hamas back together, and the debate over the Syrian issue is over,” said Hamid-Reza Taraghi, who heads the international department of the influential Islamic Coalition Party.
In the end, Iran’s leaders believe that military power is the only measure of success, and they have little faith that cease-fires and diplomacy will accomplish anything lasting. For average Iranians, though, Iran’s missile program and the events in Gaza are faraway problems, and many said the triumph may be short-lived.
“Maybe in the short term Iran is increasing its influence among the Palestinians, but politics are fast nowadays,” said Allahgoli Abbaspour, 53, a shop owner. “The Palestinians need their independence, but I doubt they will ever get it. It’s not like normal Iranians have anything to say about this.”
Ramtin Rastin contributed reporting.
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Iran Celebrates Use of Rockets Supplied to Hamas
Iran: ‘All Zionists are within the range of the resistance's missiles'
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Smoke trails are seen after missiles are fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza City towards southern Israel / AP
BY:
Adam Kredo
July 14, 2014 1:42 pm
Iranian military leaders on Monday celebrated Hamas’ use of advanced long-range rockets that were supplied to the terror group by the Iranian regime.
Iran’s role in arming Hamas militants with more sophisticated artillery capable of reaching deep into Israel has fueled concerns among lawmakers that U.S. negotiators are not doing enough to address Iran’s support for terror during ongoing nuclear discussions.
Israeli and United Nations officials have confirmed that Hamas is firing rockets on civilians provided to it by Iran.
A Senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general praised Hamas’ rocket attacks on Monday and warned that between Hamas and other Iranian-backed terror groups, “all Zionists are within the range of the resistance’s missiles.”
“The defense capacity and capabilities of the Islamic resistance and Hamas forces has left no safe place for the Zionists in the occupied territories,” General Ramezan Sharif, head of the IRGC’s public relations department,
said in public remarks Monday.
Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas and other Iranian-backed groups, are well armed and can strike Jewish civilians inside and outside of Israel, Sharif said.
“The quality and trend of action of the Palestinian resistance movement in recent days indicates that the defensive and offensive power of Hamas, Ezzedin Al-Qassam, and Quds brigades forces have increased so much that one can dare say that all Zionists are within the range of the resistance’s missiles,” Sharif was quoted as saying by Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency.
The Quds brigades are an elite Iranian force that trains terrorists, including Hezbollah, and is responsible for waging terror attacks across the Middle East against Western targets.
Iran’s arming of Hamas is beginning to receive attention at the highest levels of the U.S. government as the terror group continues to barrage Israel with more sophisticated rockets aimed at Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and even the northern city of Haifa.
House lawmakers explicitly referenced Iran’s role in the conflict in a
recent resolution supporting Israel’s right to self-defense.
“Iran has long provided material support to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, including assistance that has enabled these terrorist organizations to produce longer-range rockets capable of striking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem,” the resolution stated.
Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.), the author of the resolution’s Iran-related language, said the regime’s proud support of Hamas should give U.S. negotiators “pause” and indicates that Tehran cannot be trusted to abandon its nuclear program.
“The failure of the government in Iran to adjust its behavior … gives us pause on how much seriousness they’re putting into these [nuclear] negotiations,” Royce was
quoted as saying late Friday during a meeting with reporters.
The State Department has said that it shares Congress’ concerns, but that the issue is not being broached during nuclear talks with Iran, which are set to expire on July 20.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed in a July 9 briefing that she is “not aware” of the issue of Iran’s support for Hamas being mentioned during talks.
“The focus is on the nuclear issue,” she said. “There’s plenty to discuss on that particular issue.”
“How do you discuss just nuclear issues with Iran when all this is going on, them supplying rockets to Hamas or Syria, and also possible destabilizing efforts in Iraq?” a reporter followed up, according to the official transcript.
“Obviously resolving the nuclear issue and preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon is not the only issue we have with Iran,” Psaki said. “But it’s such an important issue and it’s one that’s vital to our national security interests and to the security of the region that we feel a focus on that at these discussions is absolutely appropriate.”
A State Department spokesman on Monday did not respond to further inquiries about conversations it may or may not have had with Iran about Hamas.
House insiders working on the nuclear issue have expressed frustration over the administration’s hesitance to broach Iran’s larger support for terror groups such as Hamas.
“As the administration continues nuclear negotiations with Iran—the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism—its proxy Hamas is firing hundreds of rockets at population centers in Israel,” one senior House aide told the
Washington Free Beacon. “It’s becoming increasingly harder for the president to ignore the Iran-funded terrorism coming out of the Gaza Strip, which thus far he’s brazenly overlooked in order to preserve prospects for a final nuclear agreement with Iran.”
Why are you asking of Iran but not Saudis? What have they done except spreading religious and racial hate in Syria?
They attacked Yemen under command of USA and in Israel's favor.
What kind of a moron are you?
Sunnis are also dying in Yemen because Al-Sauds are bullying that country.
When will you retardedos understand?