Iran ups rhetoric with talk of training Palestinian fighters
Iran has been supporting and instructing Palestinian resistance factions for years on the down low, but now it's bragging about it.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was recently blaming Iran's influence on Palestinians for the lack of progress in peace talks, Iran seemed more than happy to accept responsibility.
In an interview with Globo TV during his Jan. 1 visit to Brazil, Netanyahu said, “Half of them [Palestinians] are already under the gun of Iran and of radical Islam.” His comments coincided with statements made the same day by Iran's police chief, Hossein Ashtari, that his forces are ready to train members of the Palestinian factions' armed wings.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been unofficially providing this training since 2005, but this was the first time the police force made such an offer publicly. Ashtari made the statement during a meeting with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhalah in Tehran. Nakhalah was accompanied on his trip by all the members of the PIJ political bureau. The delegation met senior leaders of the Iranian regime, most notably Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"[Khamenei] always supports the resistance against the Zionist entity," Ashtari said during his meeting with Nakhalah. "We follow his footsteps and continue to support the oppressed Palestinian people. … We are ready to provide any possible assistance.”
