Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani Wednesday called on Palestinians to accept further Iranian assistance in targeting Israelis. Larijani made the comments in the context of a meeting with top Hamas official Emad Al-Alami, who in turn has linked Hamas’s self-described military victories over Israel to Iranian assistance. Hamas has been attempting to reinforce perceptions that it emerged victorious from Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense, which the Iran-backed group triggered by refusing to dampen weeks of escalatory rocket fire against Israeli civilians in October and November of 2012. Hamas’s efforts to establish that perception have been hampered by the total lack of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into Israel since the conflict, which represents a period of quiet unrivaled on that border in almost a decade. Analysts have speculated that the mutual exchanges of support and claims of victory between Hamas and Tehran may be designed in part to convey confidence and victory.

[Photo: Fabienkhan / Wiki Commons]