Iran’s top diplomat meets Hamas leader

Iran’s top diplomat spoke with a senior official from the Palestinian group Hamas regarding talks between Iran and the United States, state television reported yesterday.

Abbas Araghchi discussed the “latest developments” in the region with Basem Naeem, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, Iranian television said.

The call follows the signing last week of a memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States aimed at bringing a lasting end to hostilities in the Middle East.

The text does not mention Gaza but stipulates “an immediate and permanent cessation of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”.

Hamas has welcomed the agreement and expressed hope that it would also help end the violence in the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by over two years of war with Israel.

During the call, Araghchi “reaffirmed the Islamic republic’s continued support for Palestinians and their just cause until their legitimate national rights are fully realised”, according to a transcript reported by Iranian television.

On Tuesday, the Iranian foreign minister accompanied President Masoud Pezeshkian on a visit to neighbouring Pakistan, which has been acting as a mediator in the talks between Tehran and Washington.

Pezeshkian said that, without its missiles, his country would have ended up “just like Gaza,” insisting that its ballistics programme was non-negotiable.

“If the missiles we have for our defence did not exist, Israel and the United States would have ploughed Iran just like Gaza, showing no mercy to either the old or the young,” he said during the visit to Pakistan.

“We will never negotiate with anyone, under any circumstances, ever, about our defensive capabilities,” he added.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif meanwhile confirmed that the preliminary agreement signed by the US and Iran, alongside the mediating parties, made no mention of ballistic missiles.