Iran sent military aid to Hamas: parliament speaker

TEHRAN - Agence France-Presse

Iranians hold portraits of the Islamic republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and anti-Israel placards during a protest in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza in Tehran. AFP photo

Iran has sent military aid to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza that has been locked in a week-long war with Israel, parliament speaker Ali Larijani said today.

"We are proud to defend the people of Palestine and Hamas ... and that our assistance to them has been both financial and military," he said without elaborating, in remarks reported by parliament's website, ICANA.ir.

Iran has never made a secret of its support for Israel's foes Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip but generally eschews mention of sending military aid.

The Jewish state has accused Iran of supplying Hamas with its Fajr 5 missile, used to target Tel Aviv since an Israeli offensive on Gaza was launched on November 14.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief General Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Wednesday that Tehran was only responsible for having shared the missile's "technology." Jafari said: "Iran provides technical assistance to all Muslims who fight against world arrogance," a term used by Iranian officials to describe the West and Israel, the ISNA news agency reported.

The Fajr 5 missiles launched at Tel Aviv "have not been delivered from Iran, but their technology has," Jafari said, adding that the missiles were being "rapidly produced" in Gaza.