One month ago, I asked an Iranian diplomat in Beirut about relations with Hamas and whether there is any chance things will return to normal. “The door was never closed,” he told me. “Their bureau in Tehran is still functioning, and we still have contacts with them, it’s them who decided to downgrade relations, not us.”

For years, Hamas was Iran’s main ally in Palestine. Money and weapons were not the only things Iran gave to its ally. Also included was safe haven in Damascus, a secured branch in Lebanon and being on the favorite list after Hezbollah for “strategic arm” supplies.

According to a Palestinian source in Gaza whom I spoke to via phone, “There are only a few Hamas officials who don’t know Tehran, but the old days are over. Hamas won’t again be Iran’s favorite here. There is no more mutual confidence.” The source, who is anti-Hamas, elaborated: “The Muslim Brotherhood is Hamas’ biological mother, while Iran is the one who cared and pampered. Hamas chose its biological mother when Iran needed them. They were able to reach a compromise, but they decided to burn the boats.”

In Tehran, not all Hamas’ boats seem to be burned, thanks to few officials in Gaza who decided on their own that relations with Iran shouldn’t halt. One of those was slain commander Ahmad Jabari, who maintained strong ties with Iranian officials and had his own lobby within the political bureau. Mahmoud al-Zahar, one of the founding fathers of Hamas, both influenced and was influenced by Jabari. Zahar, a hardliner in politics and religion, was one of few officials in the movement who continued to praise Iran and its role and maintained strong relations with Tehran. (Al-Monitor published on July 15 a piece on Zahar’s Iranian relations.)