It will never cease to amaze me that Iran’s government will continually deny involvement in the Israel/Hamas war while also affirming that they are intimately involved. Despite the regime’s protestations of innocence, details keep emerging showing just how far it has participated in Hamas’ initial surprise attack on Israel on October 7.

Now, it appears at least some Iranian officials are confirming what many already expected as the motivation for the assault, which has led to a bloody war that has claimed the lives of over 2,000 people. As a result of the fighting and Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia appears to have suspended negotiations to normalize diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. It seems it was all part of the plan.

On October 10, 2023, three days after the Hamas attack on southern Israel, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei set out Iran's official position – i.e. that Iran had no hand in the attack.

However, statements by some senior Iranian officials and leaders of the Palestinian resistance groups indicate that one of the aims of the attack was to thwart the U.S.-Saudi-Israel initiative to expand Saudi-Israeli normalization, implement the Saudi solution to the Palestinian issue, and grant legitimacy to a Saudi nuclear program. This is because this joint initiative would cause strategic damage to Iran and to the resistance axis that it leads.

This rationale for the attack, as presented by senior Iranian officials and by officials from the Iranian proxy groups Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), strengthen the claim that Iran had a hand in the October 7 attack against Israel and that its proxies are operating on its behalf in order to advance its interests and its goal of destroying Israel.

Shortly after the attack, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh minced no words about his disdain for Arab nations who have established relations with Israel. During a televised speech, he said:

"We say to all countries, including our Arab brothers, that this entity, which cannot protect itself in the face of resistors, cannot provide you with any protection." Haniyeh was keen to underscore that peace agreements inked by Arab states with Israel would not "resolve this [Palestinian] conflict."

While Saudi Arabia’s government had been inching closer to establishing relations with Israel, the war led them it reconsider. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salman contacted Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and indicated the negotiations would be on hold until Israel gave “concessions” to the Palestinians.

Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has already spoken with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in an effort to stymie potential further violence across the region.

One of the sources said that talks could not continue for now and that Saudi Arabia would need to prioritize concessions for the Palestinian people when discussion resumed.

Apparently, this is precisely what Iran wanted.

Ali Akhbar Velayati, international affairs advisor to Khamenei, sent letters on October 7, 2023 to PIJ leader Ziyad Al-Nakhalah and Hamas Political Bureau head Isma'il Haniyeh praising the resistance of the Palestinian people and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which he said "assured the imminent destruction of this [Zionist] regime." He also warned the countries that seek to normalize relations with Israel not to do so. The following are excerpts from his letter:

"Peace and the blessings of God upon the oppressed and strong Palestine and on the fighters who march on God's path and continue to fight, to sacrifice [their lives], and to show their strength more proudly than in the past. The pictures that were published today [October 7, 2023] from the Palestinian resistance operation against the criminal Zionist regime – [an operation] that destroyed the hegemony of this regime – are a great victory that will lead to fear and amazement among the enemies and to joy and gladness among the Muslims worldwide, particularly in Western Asia [i.e. the Middle East].

The effort was even propagated by Iranian-sponsored media. During an October 8 interview with the Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hamas representative Khaled Qaddoumi called for an end to negotiations with Israel:

"The Islamic nation awakened yesterday to support the Palestinian nation. The dear citizens of Iran have also arrived on the scene in the various cities to support the oppressed Palestinian people. This movement itself encourages the Palestinian people to become stronger on the path to liberating Jerusalem. We thank the people of Iran and the freedom-seekers in the world for the support of the oppressed Palestinian people, and we say to the governments that have sought to normalize relations with the Zionist regime that with that [normalization] operation, they are in fact stabbing Palestinian children in the back. Normalization with the Zionist regime must be stopped, and the path of resistance must be strengthened, and with God's help, we will witness the liberation of the dear homeland of the Palestinian people from the river to the sea, as well as the destruction of the Zionist regime."

It is clear that, once again, Hamas and its supporters are exploiting the plight of the Palestinians to further their political agenda. In this instance, they seek to squash any chance that Saudi Arabia, which is not exactly friendly to Iran, would enter into diplomatic relations with Israel as so many other Arab nations have done under the Abraham Accords.

Of course, America’s government has responded to this development with denials and hand-wringing. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan insisted that negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Israel are not on hold. But, as RedState’s Nick Arama pointed out, “Do we ever get any kind of a straight answer out of the Biden administration? They don’t want you to know they’ve made yet another foreign policy situation worse.”

So, is the prospect of Saudi-Israel normalization dead in the water? Well, that’s the million-dollar question, dear reader. With so many agendas at play, even Ms. Cleo couldn’t predict what is going to happen next. At this point, only one thing is clear: Iran and Hamas have gotten what they want – for now.