Since March 2014, Hamas has made a series of successive political contacts in a variety of directions. Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, met on March 11 in Qatar with Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani, exchanging views on the Palestinian issue and the siege on Gaza.

Bassem Naim, the deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, told Al-Monitor, “Iran reconfirmed its support for the resistance during the meeting, thus restoring warmth to the relationship between Hamas and Iran, which had cooled due to regional events.”

Yet a prominent journalist who is close to decision-making sources in Doha, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor, “The meeting between Meshaal and Larijani was nothing more than a formality, and will produce no results in terms of the relationship between the two. This is because Iran has not changed its conditions for renewing the relationship, including the request that Hamas change its position on the Syrian crisis.”

On March 24, Meshaal offered his condolences to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for the death of his mother, and to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for the death of the latter’s sister.