Khamenei Says Iran Not Behind Hamas Assault on Israel

October 10, 2023

2 min read

"We kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime," Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said during a ceremony at Imam Ali Officer University on October 10

"This destructive earthquake has destroyed some critical structures [in Israel] which will not be repaired easily,” Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said during a ceremony at Imam Ali Officer University on October 10

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has claimed that the Islamic Republic had not been involved in the Palestinian group Hamas's weekend surprise assault on Israel, but he hailed what he called the country's "irreparable" military and intelligence defeat.

"We kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime," Khamenei said on October 10 in his first comments on the attack.

"This destructive earthquake has destroyed some critical structures [in Israel] which will not be repaired easily,” he said during a ceremony for the graduation of military cadets at Imam Ali Officer University, adding that Israel’s “own actions are to blame for this disaster."

The Islamic Republic has long backed Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and rejects Israel's right to exist.

The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post have reported that the Islamic Republic and Revolutionary Guards were deeply involved in planning and preparing the attack on Israel.

Speaking in his Beirut office as Israel bombarded Gaza in retaliatory strikes and vowed a total blockade of the territory, a member of Hamas’s exiled leadership said on october 9 that only a small number of top commanders inside Gaza knew about the assault.

Ali Barakeh also said that allies such as the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah “will join the battle if Gaza is subjected to a war of annihilation.”

Asked whether the United States has seen evidence of Iranian involvement in Hamas’s assault, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby noted “there’s a degree of complicity” from Tehran due to its years of support for the Palestinian group.

However, Washington hasn’t “seen hard, tangible, evidence that Iran was directly involved in participating in or resourcing, planning these sets of complex attacks that Hamas pulled off over the weekend.”

The Israeli military said more than 900 people have been killed in Israel since Hamas launched its assault on October 7. In Gaza and the West Bank, over 700 people have been killed, according to authorities there, and Israel says hundreds of Hamas fighters are among them. Thousands have been wounded on both sides.