Hamas wins Iran pledge to Palestinian security forces

Iran has promised to give assistance to the security forces of the Hamas-led Palestinian government, a Hamas website said today.

The promise came during a visit to Tehran by Palestinian Interior Minister Said Siyam, which had begun Tuesday, according to the website.

A senior Hamas official said Iran had promised to give vehicles to the Palestinian security forces.

Israel considers Iran an enemy, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of the Jewish state and questioned whether the Holocaust happened.

“We see the positions of Ahmadinejad as a source of pride for Muslims,” Siyam was quoted as saying on the Hamas website. “Especially when he challenges the sources of international arrogance,” he said, in an apparent reference to America and Israel.

Siyam met with Ahmadinejad and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, visited Iran’s security branches and attended a training session at the police academy, the website said. Senior Iranian officers promised to assist the Palestinians, it said.

The Hamas government has faced crippling economic sanctions since taking office in March, with Western nations demanding the group recognise Israel and renounce violence in order to receive foreign aid. Hamas has refused.

Ahmadinejad said Iran had no reservations that would stop it from helping the Hamas government, the website said. Iran’s Republican Guards are believed to have helped train Hezbollah, and Iran is one of the main financial backers of the Lebanese guerrilla group.