Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is in Tehran for talks with Iranian officials, state media reported, a day after the UN Security Council called for a ceasefire in the group's war with Israel, AFP reported.
"Hamas bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh will meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian during his trip to Tehran on March 26," the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported, adding that he would also meet with other senior officials.
This is the second visit by a Hamas leader to Tehran since the Iran-backed group launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that killed some 1,160 people, mostly civilians according to Israeli figures.
Haniyeh's last visit was in early November, when he met with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as other officials.
Iran hailed the October 7 attack as a "success" but denies having any direct involvement.
Since then, Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen have carried out numerous attacks against Israeli and Western targets.
More than 32,000 people, most of them women and children, have died in Israel's retaliatory campaign against Hamas, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Haniyeh's visit comes in the wake of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire" during the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan, leading to a "durable" truce.
It also demands that Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups release the hostages they took in the 7 October attack.
The militants took about 250 hostages, of whom Israel believes about 130 are still being held in Gaza, including 33 presumed dead.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani described the resolution as a "positive but insufficient step". He called for "effective measures to implement the resolution and for a complete and final end to the attacks." / BGNES
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