The Blubber

Iran helped plot attack on Israel over several weeks, per WSJ.

Iranian security officials reportedly played a role in orchestrating Hamas's surprise attack on Israel last Saturday, giving the green light for the assault during a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to information provided by senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.

These sources indicate that officers from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps collaborated with Hamas since August to plan the air, land, and sea incursions — the most significant breach of Israel's borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The operation's details were fine-tuned during multiple meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas (which governs Gaza) and Hezbollah (a Shiite militant group and political faction in Lebanon).

While U.S. officials claim they haven't seen evidence of Tehran's involvement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned in a Sunday CNN interview, "We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship."

Regarding the reported meetings, a U.S. official stated, "We don’t have any information at this time to corroborate this account."

However, a European official and an adviser to the Syrian government echoed the same account of Iran's involvement in the lead-up to the attack as conveyed by senior Hamas and Hezbollah members.

In response to inquiries about the meetings, Mahmoud Mirdawi, a senior Hamas official, asserted that the group independently planned the attacks, stating, "This is a Palestinian and Hamas decision."