Iranian foreign minister meets with Hamas leaders in Doha
Terror group appears to elevate head of its Shura Council chief Muhammad Darwish, having him lead meetings with foreign ministers from Iran and Turkey upon Hamas’s return to Qatar
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Hamas leaders at the terror group’s office in Doha on Saturday for talks on the situation in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing war there.
The Hamas delegation was headed by the group’s Shura Council chair Muhammad Darwish.
Darwish sits on the five-member Leadership Council established by then-Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar shortly before he was killed by Israel in October in Gaza.
Hamas hasn’t yet named a successor for Sinwar, but the group referred to Darwish as the head of its Leadership Council in a readout Friday, and he is increasingly being framed as a consensus pick for the position.
Hamas said in a statement that the meeting discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip, as well as recent meetings between Fatah and Hamas officials in Cairo that reportedly produced an agreement on jointly managing Gaza when the war ended, the pro-Iran broadcaster Al-Mayadeen reported.
The West Bank-based Fatah of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been at odds with Hamas since 2005, when the terror group ousted the PA from Gaza in a bloody coup.
#Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi met a number of #Hamas officials in Doha. pic.twitter.com/IW7X1PC3Gv
— Iran Nuances (@IranNuances) December 7, 2024
Talks also touched on the West Bank and East Jerusalem — areas the Palestinians want for a future state — and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The meeting came amid renewed efforts by international mediators to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza that would include the release of hostages abducted from Israel during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that started the war. Amid a recent prevailing atmosphere that a deal could be reached, Qatar confirmed Friday that it would re-embrace its role as a mediator along with the US and Egypt after earlier this year saying it was pausing its activities due to what it said was Israeli and Hamas intransigence.
Darwish stressed during the meeting that Hamas is open to proposals “that serve our people’s interests and alleviate their suffering,” according to the report.
Araghchi reaffirmed Iran’s backing for the Palestinian cause.
After the meeting, Aragchi told reporters that a ceasefire in Gaza has “complications,” Iran’s IRNA news agency said.
“There are hopes for progress, but there are also obstacles along with it,” he said.
Araghchi earlier participated in a tripartite meeting with the foreign ministers of Russia and Syria to discuss the rapidly unfolding events in Syria.
Iranian state-backed outlet Press TV reported that Araghchi accused Israel of fomenting the unrest in Syria, where rebel forces on Sunday captured the capital and declared an end to the Assad regime, a longtime ally of Iran.
“The main goal of the Zionist regime is to divert the attention of the region and the world from the focal point of the crisis,” which is Gaza, he reportedly said.
Hamas’s hosting of the meeting in Qatar came after US President-elect Donald Trump was said to have asked, via an aide and with a view to making progress in the hostage talks, that Doha recall Hamas leaders who it ousted amid pressure from the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden.
On Friday, the returned Hamas leaders hosted Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan at the terror group’s political office in Doha to discuss the hostage negotiations.
A Hamas statement about that meeting also highlighted Darwish as leading the talks.
