Iran won’t give up on Palestine, supreme leader tells Hamas delegation

Iran’s supreme leader said on Monday during a meeting with a delegation from the Palestinian militant group Hamas that Tehran won’t give up its position on Palestine, AP reports. “Supporting Palestine is an ideological and religious matter,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying.

The Hamas delegation was headed by its deputy chief, Saleh al-Arouri. The group also met with Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Khamenei.

The trip to Tehran followed a visit by senior Iranian parliamentary official Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to Lebanon last week, according to IRNA. Iran backs both Hamas and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Khamenei also denounced US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Middle East, calling it a dangerous conspiracy and urged followers not to allow it “to eliminate Palestinian identities by using money.”