Hamas mixed on Iran nuclear deal
Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk has criticized Iran for signing a nuclear deal with the West, but some of his colleagues believe the deal will have a positive effect on Hamas.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Iranian nuclear agreement announced in Geneva on Nov. 24 has unsettled not only Israel but also Hamas.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, the deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, wrote on his Facebook page on the evening of Nov. 23, “Talks between Iran and the P5+1 group will end with an agreement whereby Iran would promise to reduce uranium enrichment in return for the West ending its Iran sanctions, restoring ties with Iran and releasing its frozen funds.”
He added that the agreement would make “the Zionist entity safer, because now it is comfortable knowing that no Iranian nuclear threat is coming, nor are there any chemical weapons anymore. Only Israel has those now.”
Political analyst Mukhaimer Abu Saada told Al-Monitor over the phone that Abu Marzouk’s statements were another indication of the tense Iran-Hamas relationship. Hamas, he said, is exploiting the strained ties to score points against Iran by alluding that the latter made concessions to the United States.
