Iran's Police Chief Hosein Ashtari has told Palestinian Islamic Jihad Leader Ziad al-Nakhaleh that his forces are prepared to offer training to the "Palestinian Resistance Front," ISNA reported on Wednesday January 2.
The "resistance front" is Iran's nickname for groups such as HAMAS and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The statement by the police chief followed Iranian President's meeting with Al-Nakhaleh on January 1 during which President Hassan Rouhani called for the continuation of Palestinians' struggle against Israel, adding that the Palestinians' battle should end with Israel "bowing" to Palestine.
Al-Nakhaleh also met with Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Tuesday. Khamenei told him that "A Palestinian state will be finally declared in Tel Aviv." His remark was against Palestinians' ideal of setting up a government in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry's spokesman has stressed that Tehran's stance against Israel will remain unchanged.
Rouhani said in his meeting with Al-Nakhaleh and the accompanying delegation that "The U.S. is helping Israel to dominate the region, including Palestine," adding that "Regional nations should think of Israel not only as an enemy of Palestine, but as an adversary for the entire region."
The Islamic Jihad leader reportedly promised in this meeting that "The Palestinian nation will not stop resistance and will fight till victory."
Iranian media reports about the meeting between Iran's police chief and the leader of the Islamic Jihad were unprecedented as previously Iran did not acknowledged contacts between its military personnel and Palestinian armed groups.
In his meeting with Al-Nakhaleh, Ashtari likened assistance to the "resistance movement" to Iran's "holy defense"; an official jargon to describe the war with Iraq in the 1980s.
Assisting groups such as the Islamic Jihad is against international regulations enforced on the financial front by the Financial Action Task Force or FATF, which has required Iran to stop assistance to terrorist groups. Iran has started the enactment of legislation required by FATF to ban financing for terrorism, but hardliners have stopped the process.
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