World
Hamas said to demand increased financial, diplomatic support from Iran
A delegation of top Hamas officials recently presented Tehran with a list of demands for increased diplomatic and financial support, according to a report Tuesday, as the ruling Gaza terror group seeks to strengthen its position amid an ongoing push by mediators to demilitarize the Palestinian enclave in accordance with a US-backed peace plan.
The Hamas delegation, led by the head of its political bureau, Mohammed Ismail Darwish, met with senior Iranian leaders, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, on the sidelines of the funeral of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei on July 4.
The Hamas delegation, according to the Kan public broadcaster, used the meeting to present Tehran with a list of the terror group’s demands, which included using the Islamic Republic as a “diplomatic safety net” during negotiations aimed at reaching a permanent end to the war in Gaza.
The terror group also asked Tehran to publicly reject any possibility of it being disarmed and removed from power in the war-torn Gaza Strip, the report said.
Iran has for years provided support to Hamas and Hezbollah, both designated as terrorist groups by the United States and other Western nations, making itself the target of international sanctions.
Hamas’s refusal to disarm and relinquish its power has stalled attempts to advance US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Gaza Strip, with little progress having been made since a ceasefire came into effect in October 2025, after two years of war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel.
Hamas has repeatedly insisted that it is not opposed to handing over some of its arsenal, but only as part of a Palestinian political process, which Israel has ruled out.
The Hamas delegation also asked Tehran to link the Gaza Strip to any future negotiations with the United States, similar to the way it brought Lebanon and the Hezbollah terror group into its recent ceasefire negotiations with Washington.
Specifically, the report said that Hamas asked Iran to include “ending Israeli erosion operations in the Gaza Strip” as a demand in any future negotiations with the US.
Israel has kept up near-daily strikes in the Palestinian enclave despite the October 2025 ceasefire, saying it responds to imminent threats, and the IDF has continued to push out the boundaries of the area it still occupies in the Strip.
Following the implementation of the October 2025 ceasefire, the IDF was left in control of around 53% of the Gaza Strip, but slowly increased its hold over the following months to around 60%. In May, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered troops to keep pushing ahead until it holds 70 percent of the enclave.
Beyond diplomatic support, Kan reported that Hamas also asked Tehran for increased financial and logistical support as it tries to rebuild its military capabilities, which were gutted by Israel during its two-year war with the terror group.
Despite also facing the task of rebuilding damaged and destroyed infrastructure in Iran after the recent war with the US and Israel, the report said that the Iranian leadership agreed to all of Hamas’s demands and pledged that its support, both financial and diplomatic, would continue until “complete victory” had been achieved for the Palestinian cause.
It also agreed to integrate Hamas’s demands and negotiating positions into its own negotiations with Washington, according to the report, although the talks have since stalled amid a renewed round of hostilities.
