
A senior Hamas official denied on Monday that Iran helped the terrorist organization plan its surprise attack on Israel.
His comments followed a Wall Street Journal report on Sunday which claimed that Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas' attack and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday.
Speaking to NBC News, the senior Hamas official, Ali Baraka, said, “It was a surprise to everyone, including Iran.”
Baraka, who is the head of Hamas’ National Relations Abroad, noted that Iran supports Hamas, but he insisted that “we did not inform them that there was an operation that would happen at dawn on Oct. 7.”
“After the operation began, we informed Iran,” he added.
Meanwhile, two US officials told NBC News that they don’t have information to corroborate the Wall Street Journal’s account.
A senior Israeli diplomatic source said Israel isn’t concerned about a direct war with Iran.
“Iran’s strategy is that of proxy war and to deny a direct connection to Hamas’ efforts,” the source said. “They work through proxies, and that’s why they are the No. 1 state sponsor of terror.”
Iran has denied that it played a role in the attack. Asked about claims his country was behind the Hamas assault, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani told reporters on Monday that “such politicized accusations are motivated by Israel’s heavy defeat.”