Velayati: we do not interfere in Hamas’s affairs

Ali Akbar Velayati, Leader of Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei’s top adviser for international affairs, said the last visit to the head of Hamas political bureau Khaled Mishaal in Saudi Arabia will not affect its relation with Tehran.

Velayati said, in a talk with al-Jazeera on Friday, “We and Hamas are friends and our friendship does not allow us to interfere in its interior affairs.”

He stressed that his country perceives Hamas as the most powerful resistance movement as being able to protect Gaza Strip against the Israeli attacks over the past years.

The PIC correspondent in Tehran said Velayati confirmed that there is a personal friendship between him and Mishaal. Velayati denied the rumors on the existence of any tension in relations between Tehran and Hamas.

Regarding Iran’s relation with Islamic Jihad Movement, Velayati said the relations are good and described Islamic Jihad’s leaders as friends of him and that he is keen to meet and talk with them whenever opportunities arise.

In another context, Velayati said that Israel will not dare to attack Iran, saying that big Israeli cities will be brought down at the moment it does so.