WASHINGTON: Iran has said it was not involved in Hamas’ attacks inside Israel, although it supports the Palestinian cause, even as its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed Israel’s “irreparable” military and intelligence defeat.

“We kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime,” Khamenei said in his first televised speech since the attack.

“This destructive earthquake (Hamas raid) has destroyed some critical structures (in Israel) which will not be repaired easily ... The Zionist regime’s own actions are to blame for this disaster,” said Ayatollah Khamenei.

US officials have avoided blaming Iran for the attacks, although Western media reports have tried to link Tehran with the Palestinian fighters’ raid on Israel.

On Tuesday, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also said that Washington has no evidence of direct Iranian involvement in the Hamas raid, even though it has backed the group for years.

“But in this particular instance, we don’t have any evidence that there was direct involvement in the planning or the execution of this attack,” Austin told journalists aboard a US military aircraft.

That assessment was echoed by the US State Department, which emphasized however that it could change.

In a series of interviews this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke of Iran’s relations with Hamas, but did not directly blame Iran for orchestrating Saturday’s attacks that killed hundreds of Israelis.

Earlier, as the UN Security Council debated the current situation in the Middle East, Iran’s UN mission also clarified Tehran’s position on the issue.

“The ongoing situation in occupied Palestine is the result of the longstanding denial of the Palestinian people’s legitimate right to self-determination, the ongoing Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people and their land, the continued desecration of Muslim holy sites, including Al Aqsa Mosque, and the continued terrorism of the Israeli regime,” the statement by Teh­ran’s Mission to the United Nations said.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2023