The head of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group praised Iran for its role in last summer's Gaza conflict against Israel, during a visit to Tehran on Thursday.
"Definitely, the victory was achieved with the assistance of the Islamic republic," Ramadan Abdullah Shallah said at a meeting with Iran's supreme guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, quoted by Fars news agency.
"Without Iran's strategic and efficient help, resistance and victory in Gaza would have been impossible," he said of the 50-day war in which 2,200 Gazans and 73 Israelis died and the Hamas-ruled territory suffered serious damage..
Iran, whose government is sworn to Israel's destruction, is one of the world's leading sponsors of terrorism, and a longtime backer of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Iran has been the primary supplier of the rockets Islamist terrorists in Gaza have used to target Israeli civilians, as well as other support in terms of weaponry, funding and training.
Recently, a senior Iranian military official claimed Iran was also helping terrorists fight Israel "in the field."
Iran has also been actively working to arm terrorists in Judea and Samaria.
At the meeting with Shallah, Khamenei, also quoted by Fars, urged the terrorists to "boost their preparedness day by day and reinforce their resources" ahead of any further Israeli assault on the territory.
The Islamic Jihad leader was skeptical of the $5.4 billion in international aid to rebuild Gaza that was pledged at a donor conference in Cairo last Sunday.
"We do not pin much hope on such promises and only rely on God to compensate losses inflicted on us by the Zionist regime," said Shallah, referring to Israel which launched its July-August assault on Gaza with the aim of halting rocket fire on its towns, and destroying dozens of tunnels infiltrating into Israeli territory in preparation for terrorist assaults.
AFP contributed to this report.