Khaled Mashaal set to visit Iran

Officials in Iran and the Palestinian Hamas group confirmed Saturday that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is set to visit Tehran in the near future.

In confirming Mashaal’s visit, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian denied persistent reports of a falling out between the Islamic Republic and Hamas.

“The relations between Hamas and the Islamic Republic of Iran have never been cut,” the semi-official FARS news agency quoted Abdollahian as saying.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic countries and the region’s public opinion will never leave the oppressed Palestinian people alone,” he said.

Hamas had raised Iran’s ire in 2013 over its unwillingness to side with Syrian President Bashar Assad, a staunch ally of Iran, against the rebels.

The official Iranian Tasnim news agency quoted a senior Hamas official to the effect that the group was coordinating Mashaal’s visit with the Iranian government.

The relationship between Hamas and Iran was “positive,” the official said, reportedly stressing that his organization wished to improve its ties with the Islamic Republic.

Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Iran has supplied it with much of its weaponry, primarily through a vast network of tunnels that run under the territory’s border with Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.

Mashaal was in Turkey on Saturday, where he hailed the country’s leaders and said he hoped to “liberate Palestine and Jerusalem” with them.

During a speech to officials and supporters of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Mashaal congratulated the people of Turkey “for having [Prime Minister Ahmet] Davutoğlu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan” as heads of state, adding that “a strong Turkey means a strong Palestine … Inshallah, God is with us and with you on the road to victory.”

“Inshallah we will liberate Palestine and Jerusalem again in the future,” Mashaal said.

Turkey and Hamas have seen a rapid rapprochement as Israel’s ties with Ankara continued to deteriorate. The AK Party has had close ties with Hamas since its rise in 2001, led by Davutoglu and Erdogan. The two have been known for their frequent outbursts against Israel over the years.