Did Iran Aid the Hamas Attacks?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Did Iran help coordinate the deadly Hamas attacks that have killed at least 900 people in Israel?
The Details: U.S. officials say there's no direct evidence linking Iran to the attacks. Meanwhile, some Middle East experts and Hamas officials have said Iran was involved. Iran and Hamas have been linked for years, and a 2021 report from the State Department detailed how Iran supplies Hamas with weapons and training.
Key Quotes: "We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” A Hamas spokesman told the BBC that Iran directly backed the attack and pledged to "stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem".
How the Media Covered it: Some right-rated outlets are framing the connection between Iran and the Hamas attacks as more definitive than left- and center-rated sources are. Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) highlighted reports suggesting that Iran began helping Hamas prepare for the attacks "the same month the Biden administration announced it would unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian money as part of a prisoner swap agreement with Iran." CNN (Lean Left) reported that if Iran did help Hamas, "it could portend an expanded involvement by Iran as the conflict carries on."
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Center
Blinken says U.S. has ‘not yet seen’ evidence of Iran involvement in Hamas attack on Israel
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that it is not clear there was any involvement by Iran in the weekend attack by Hamas on Israel.
Iran has long been a supporter of Hamas, the group designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, whose attack on Saturday left at least 250 in Israel dead.
“We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship,” Blinken said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Some Republican leaders have pointed to...
From the Right
Fact-checking White House talking points on Iran and Hamas
In the wake of Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel over the weekend, the Biden administration has worked to fend off claims that President Joe Biden’s policies helped create conditions that led to the bloodshed.
Republicans have criticized Biden’s approach to Iran, blaming a recent Iranian prisoner swap and his overall efforts to stabilize relations with Iran for the attack by Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group backed by Iran.
Biden administration officials have accused Republicans of spreading disinformation, insisting their actions had nothing to do with the violence.
While much about the attack remains unclear, including how U.S....
From the Left
Hamas and Iran are longtime allies. Did Tehran help with its attack on Israel?
The shock Hamas incursion into Israel was of a scale and sophistication that was previously considered unthinkable.
Hamas attackers came by land, sea and air, overwhelming Israeli defenses, and killing more than 900 people in the country, both troops and citizens.
The level of planning that would have been required for such an assault prompted questions about whether Hamas could have done it alone – and if it had help, whether that could have come from its longtime backer in the region, Iran.
Tehran, which has commended the operation, has denied involvement. Iran’s mission to the...
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