Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has met acting Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and two other leaders of the Palestinian group in Tehran, Al Jazeera reports.

“You defeated the Zionist regime, which was in fact America’s defeat,” Khamenei told the Palestinian delegation. “You did not allow them to achieve any of their goals.”

Khamenei “honoured the memory of the martyrs of Gaza and the martyred commanders, particularly Martyr Ismail Haniyeh”, the supreme leader’s official website said.

Iranian TV said the Palestinian leaders were in Tehran to congratulate Khamenei on the anniversary of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. They expressed gratitude for Iran’s continued support.

The delegation, which also included Mohammad Darwish, head of Hamas’s leadership council, and top Hamas official Nizar Awadallah, presented Khamenei with a report on the current situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and “the victories and successes that were achieved”.

“We come to meet with you today with pride,” the TV quoted al-Hayya as telling Khamenei.