Iran invites Hamas leader to Tehran summit
Ismail Haniyeh would join UN secretary-general at Non-Aligned Movement meet next week
Iran on Friday invited Hamas Prime Minister in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh to the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran scheduled for next week.
It was unclear whether Haniyeh had accepted Tehran’s invitation. Should he participate, Haniyeh would join UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the leaders of 118 other non-aligned states for the 16th triennial event from August 29-31.
Ban’s acceptance on Wednesday earned the criticism of the United States and Israel. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated after Ban’s announcement the US’s “concerns that Iran is going to manipulate this opportunity and the attendees, to try to deflect attention from its own failings.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on August 12 urged Ban in a phone call not to attend – and, in a rare diplomatic breach, made the plea public.
“Even if it is not your intention, your visit will grant legitimacy to a regime that is the greatest threat to world peace and security,” Netanyahu told Ban in the phone call, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
The US, EU, Canada, Israel and other designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. It came to power in Gaza in 2007 via the violent overthrow of the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas.
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