Is Iran turning its back on Hamas?

Tehran has spotted regional diplomatic opportunities as a result of the Gaza war

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei meets Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh
Ismail Haniyeh, chief of Hamas's political bureau, meets Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in Tehran in early November
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Iran has told the US that it does not want the Israel-Hamas war to spread further, just days after its supreme leader told Hamas that his country would not enter the conflict.

The twin developments have called into question Iran's ongoing support for the Palestinian militant group. Analysts also say that there are "diplomatic opportunities" for Tehran in the wider Middle East as a result of the war, said the Financial Times.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.