The Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s International Affairs Department, Hussein Shaykh al-Islam, said in an interview that Iran would not welcome Mahmoud Abbas to Iran but would love to host Hamas leadership, saying that while funding was deficient in recent years due to sanctions, Iran "will spare no effort in providing this support in the future."
Al-Islam also said that reports that Mahmoud Abbas was visiting Tehran were a "lie."
He said: "They asked to visit Iran more than once and we did not accept, and recently they demanded again but we did not respond to them in a positive way," adding: "Iran is keen to support the resistance."
He stressed that no one in the world could spoil the friendship between Tehran and the Palestinian resistance, "first and foremost Hamas", praising Iran's relationship with the group as "strategic".
Shaykh al-Islam further denied there was any disagreement with Hamas, and said that they are past their dispute over Syria, and they woul strongly welcome any visit by Hamas leadership.
He also said that there was no tension between Iran and Islamic Jihad, as had been reported.
AL-Islam said that his country has come under pressure during the nuclear talks to link the agreement with political issues, including severing relationships with terror groups and linkages to actions in Syria and Yemen, "but that Tehran refused to do so."
He continued that "we reject any Israeli presence in this world."