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Monday, April 10, 2006

The headline I haven't seen yet

Back in January, I outlined the "nightmare Hamas scenario" where Iran would fund the nascent Hamastan. In this scenario, Hamas remains solvent, terroristic and it becomes a means to deliver nuclear weapons to Israel without any rockets.

It appeared that the scenario was coming true, as Iran forcefully and loudly declares its support for the Hamas terror leadership. Iran did in fact claim to offer Hamas money in February, and we know that Hamas has been getting closer to Hizbollah which is funded directly by Iran.

Iran has also been very vocal in its public support for Hamastan, hosting conferences with the purpose of supporting Hamas and Palestinian Arabs.

But I have yet to see the headline "Iran pledges $100 million to the PA" or anything specific like that. All I am seeing is Iran calling on other Islamic and Arab states to support Palestinian Arabs, and the occasional article saying how Iran "supports" Palestinian Arab rights.

Why hasn't Iran taken the obvious lead in funding Hamas publicly?

Do they not have the cash? Are they full of hot air? Do they want to keep aid to the Hamas military "wing" private and out of the scrutiny of international auditors who watch where Western dollars go?

Any ideas?