KHAMENEI-LINKED PAPER CALLS HAMAS’S OCT. 7 ATTACK ON ISRAEL WAS A MISTAKE

Middle East World

Fri 24 October 2025:

The state-linked daily Jomhouri Eslami, which operates under the supervision of a representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, described Hamas’s October 7 attack as a mistake that undermined anti-Israel movements in the region.

“Contrary to many analyses and comments, the Al-Aqsa Storm operation was a mistake,” the paper wrote in an editorial on Sunday.

The newspaper said the attack caused significant damage to what it described as “anti-Israel movements” across the region, from Iran to Lebanon.

It also cited the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government as “major losses” for what it described as the regional anti-Israel front.

It added that the paper’s editorial board had believed from “the very first moments” the attack was a miscalculation, adding that, two years later, “our belief in this mistake has only grown stronger.”

The paper said in aftermath of the Iran’s 12-day war with Israel in June — including the joint Israeli and US bombings of Iran’s Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow nuclear facilities — had severely damaged the country’s military and nuclear command structure, setting its nuclear program back “considerably.”

Jomhouri Eslami — like Kayhan and Ettela’at — is overseen by Khamenei’s representative but is known for its more moderate tone under managing editor Massih Mohajeri, a Shia cleric who has at times criticized parts of Iran’s establishment and defended reformist figures such as Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

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‘Iran will not join war, was not warned of October 7th plot’

Iran’s supreme leader delivered a clear message to the head of Hamas when they met in Tehran in early November 2023, according to three senior officials: You gave us no warning of your Oct. 7 attack on Israel and we will not enter the war on your behalf.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Ismail Haniyeh that Iran – a longtime backer of Hamas – would continue to lend the group its political and moral support, but wouldn’t intervene directly, said the Iranian and Hamas officials with knowledge of the discussions who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely.

The supreme leader pressed Haniyeh to silence those voices in the group publicly calling for Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah to join the battle against Israel in full force, a Hamas official told Reuters.

Hezbollah, too, was taken by surprise by Hamas’ devastating assault last month that killed 1,200 Israelis; its fighters were not even on alert in villages near the border that were frontlines in its 2006 war with Israel, and had to be rapidly called up, three sources close to the Lebanese group said.

“We woke up to a war,” said a Hezbollah commander.

On Oct. 7, Hamas’ military commander Mohammed Deif called on its axis allies to join the struggle. “Our brothers in the Islamic resistance in Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Iraq and Syria, this is the day when your resistance unites with your people in Palestine,” he said in an audio message.

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