Neither the United States nor Israel have pointed to Iran as responsible for organizing and launching the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel. That does not mean that the link between Tehran and Gaza exists and is key to the existence of the terrorist group, but it does indicate that the Islamic Republic, as far as is known, is not behind this offensive.
The latest to declare this was the United States National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, who stated on Tuesday at the White House that “in relation to the question of whether Iran knew about this attack or assisted Hamas in this attack or directed it directly, we have no confirmation at this time of that.” With those words, Sullivan indirectly denied the exclusive of the pro-Republican Wall Street Journal, which had published extensive information on Monday in which it alleged that Iran had planned the offensive for weeks.
Nor does Israel appear to have confirmation of Iran’s aid to Hamas. The Hebrew Prime Minister himself, Benjamin (aka ‘Bibi’) Netanyahu, has not mentioned Iran in the several public appearances he has made since the start of the war, on Saturday.
And the 18 US spy agencies and Israeli security and intelligence bodies are in the same situation as Sullivan, who declared in his appearance on Tuesday that “we are talking daily with our Israeli counterparts about this issue,” referring to the degree of Iran’s involvement in the conflict. But “at the moment we have no information about it,” he concluded, but not before repeating several times that Iran provides Hamas with “the lion’s share” of its equipment and tactics.
Iran’s alleged absence from the offensive raises a series of questions that, for the moment, have no answers. Hamas is a terrorist group that, in its almost four decades of existence, had never even remotely demonstrated the capacity to carry out actions that combined pure and simple large-scale terrorism in the style of the Islamic State or Al Qaeda with guerrilla operations. of the breadth and tactical complexity such as those carried out this week. Its military level has been close to that of Hezbollah, the party – with its corresponding militia – that surrounds Israel to the north, and which is in practice an extension of Iran’s foreign policy. It seems impossible, therefore, that Hamas was able to organize the massacre without the support of a State.
But in the absence of Iran, who has played that role is anyone’s guess. It is clear that the offensive favors Russia, but there is no evidence to show that Moscow gave anything other than moral support to the terrorists. At least, the prudence of the White House suggests the desire of Joe Biden’s Government to avoid another disaster such as the invasion of Iraq due to the weapons of mass destruction that that country did not have or due to the support for Al Qaeda that it had not carried out either. .
The Republican opposition, however, has already come to the conclusion that Iran is behind the attack and that Biden is to blame for his attempt to reactivate the nuclear agreement with that country that Donald Trump broke. Thus, White House candidate Tim Scott has stated that the US president “has blood on his hands”, while Trump himself has suggested that Hamas’ next target will be the United States.