Qalibaf reaffirms Iran’s support for Hamas

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf met a Hamas delegation in Tehran and used the meeting to reinforce Iran’s message that it stands with regional armed groups in a shared confrontation with the United States and Israel. He said Iran and what Tehran calls the resistance front are following the same authentic path, framing that path as a struggle for justice and a wider battle between truth and falsehood. He added that this spirit of resistance has repeatedly resurfaced over the past five decades in different forms.

Qalibaf said opposing U.S. intervention is now a shared goal for Iran and allied movements. He claimed Washington sought to halt resistance groups under a draft deal, but Tehran rejected it and demanded an end to U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and its allies.

The parliament speaker said Iran still remains open to negotiations with Washington, but only as part of what he described as a strategy to confront an enemy rather than compromise with it. He warned that if Iran were ever to stop fighting the United States and Israel in all their forms, that would mean defeat. His remarks were presented by Iranian state media as part of Tehran’s broader effort to present the resistance front as united and steadfast despite military and diplomatic pressure.

Basem Naim, who heads the Islamic relations office of Hamas, praised Iran’s stance toward the United States as a global power and said many countries were surprised by Iran’s response to US-Israeli aggression. He described the Palestinian struggle as ongoing and said resistance would continue until Israel no longer exists in Palestinian territory. A separate state media report added that Qalibaf also referred to the Strait of Hormuz, saying the United States must first fulfill its commitments before Iran would reopen the waterway, though no details were provided about those commitments.