BICOM

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander yesterday said that Tehran reserves the right “to accelerate arming the West Bank.”

According to widespread media reports, Brig-Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the aerial commander of the Revolutionary Guards admitted to supplying the technology to Hamas and other groups in Gaza for the rockets which have been fired relentlessly at Israeli communities for the past seven weeks.

Hajizadeh was speaking following Iran’s claim that it had shot down an Israeli drone near the Natanz nuclear site. He said that the drone was an Israeli-made “Hermes” model, but an Israeli military spokesman declined to comment, telling AFP that the military does “not address foreign media reports.”

Hajizadeh then said that, “We will accelerate arming the West Bank and we think that we are entitled to give any response [to the drone] which we deem appropriate.” Iran has long provided Hamas with money, weapons and training. However, the West Bank has remained largely ordered despite the ongoing violence in Gaza. Last week though, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency announced that it had uncovered a Hamas plot to overthrow the Palestinian Authority (PA), headed by Mahmoud Abbas, which currently administers the Palestinian areas of the West Bank.

A statement by the Revolutionary Guards regarding the alleged Israeli drone said that, “This act demonstrates a new adventurism by the Zionist regime … armed forces reserve the right to respond to this act.” Israeli leaders have repeatedly expressed deep concern over Iran’s nuclear development and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) are currently locked in talks to broker a long-term agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme, which international powers fear is designed to produce nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has recently stepped up efforts to gain access to sites such as Natanz and Parchin, where it suspects that developments towards nuclear militarisation are taking place.