Meshaal to Tehran: Return of the Prodigal Son?
News outlets report that Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas' political bureau, will soon visit Iran to rebuild ties strained over Syria.
Khaled Meshaal will visit Iran. This has been confirmed by Al-Monitor’s sources in Tehran, but still unconfirmed — to us and Meshaal — is the timing.
It was obvious that relations between Hamas, the strong Palestinian resistance faction, and Iran, its regional backer, deteriorated due to conflicting interests in Syria. Iran backed its ally Bashar al-Assad while Hamas decided it was time to ally with its ideological mother, the Muslim Brotherhood, which was already gaining ground in Tunisia, Egypt and was a favorite to rule Syria, in case the revolution succeeded in toppling the regime.
But out of the blue the situation changed. The Brotherhood in Egypt was toppled, and Hamas found itself up a blind alley. A previous piece I wrote for Al-Monitor on Aug. 12 explains how Hamas and Iran began this new chapter and who were the main players.
In Tehran, there was still a wing that thought the revival of relations with Hamas needed a confidence-building process, an Iranian source close to this wing told Al-Monitor, adding, "What happened during two years of crisis in Syria raised concerns over the benefit of supporting a group that, at the first serious junction, turned around and placed itself in the camp of our enemies." The source stated, "Since there is a consensus on closing the old chapter completely, we don’t mind, but it’s better to frame the relation."
