Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 2, 2022. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

JNS.org – The killing of Hamas terror chief Yahya Sinwar will strengthen the “spirit of resistance” in the Islamic world, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on Thursday.

“When Muslims look up to martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield—in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy—the spirit of resistance will be strengthened. He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine,” the mission tweeted.

“As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration,” it added.

Sinwar’s predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Tehran in July.

Last week, The New York Times reported that Hamas pleaded with Iran to join its Oct. 7, 2023, attack months in advance, citing documents seized by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza back in January.

According to the report, the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, Khalil al-Hayya, informed Mohammed Said Izadi, head of the Palestinian Office of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, of the plot in July 2023, in Lebanon.

Although the Iranians denied any involvement in the Oct. 7 invasion, Hamas leadership meetings, obtained in transcribed form and verified by the Times, reveal that al-Hayya asked Izadi to strike sensitive sites in Israel in “the first hour” of the attack.

The documents further reveal that Hamas also intended to convene with Hezbollah’s then-leader Hassan Nasrallah, but that the meeting was postponed. It was not clear whether a later meeting was held in person.

According to the recordings, Izadi said that Iran and Hezbollah sanctioned the attack in principle, but that more time was needed “to prepare the environment.”