It seems that the internal elections held by Hamas in May are no longer an exclusively Palestinian affair. Many regional leaders congratulated the Hamas leadership after Ismail Haniyeh was elected as head of Hamas’ political bureau at home and abroad and when Yahya Sinwar was elected head of Hamas’ political bureau in the Gaza Strip in February.

Iran congratulated Hamas despite the lukewarm relationship following tension over diverging views on the Syrian revolution since 2012. It seems Iran is upbeat about the ability of Hamas’ new leadership to restore the once-strong relationship between the two parties.

Several Iranian officials reached out to Hamas following the election of its new leadership, most recently on May 29 when Ali Larijani, head of the Iranian Islamic Consultative Assembly, congratulated Haniyeh for his election as head of the movement. He stressed that Iran considers supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people a top priority, praising Hamas and Gaza’s steadfastness.

On May 10, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sent a congratulatory telegram to Haniyeh, stressing Iran’s continued support for the Palestinian resistance. For his part, the deputy head of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, sent a similar telegram to Haniyeh on the same day.