Region
Hamas deputy leader says to continue Iran ties, armed fight
Hamas deputy leader says to continue Iran ties, armed fight
Hamas signed a reconciliation deal this month with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction."Undoubtedly, the Palestinian resistance forces will never give up ... their arms," the semi-official news agency Mehr quoted Saleh Arouri as saying at a meeting with the Iranian parliament's speaker Ali Larijani in Tehran.Israel said on Tuesday it would not hold peace negotiations with a Palestinian government dependent on Hamas and demanded that Hamas recognise Israel, disarm, and sever its ties with Iran."Our presence in Iran is the practical denial of the third pre-condition -- cutting ties with Iran," Arouri said earlier, quoted by Iran's Fars news agency.In August, a Hamas leader said that Iran was again its biggest provider of money and arms after years of tension over the civil war in Syria.