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Iran Cuts Hamas Funding over Syria
(Telegraph-UK) Robert Tait - Iran has cut up to 15 million pounds a month in funding for Hamas as punishment for the movement's backing for the uprising in Syria, the Palestinian Islamist group's leaders have admitted. Ghazi Hamad, Hamas' deputy foreign minister, described relations with Iran as "bad." "I cannot deny that since 2006 Iran supported Hamas with money and many [other] things. But the situation is not like the past," he said, adding: "I cannot say there is military cooperation." Iran gave Hamas an estimated 13-15 million pounds a month after its victory in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections - enough to cover its governing budget, said Dr. Adnan Abu Amer, assistant professor of political science at Gaza City's Ummah University. Tehran still sends a "tiny amount" to maintain ties, he said, but relations have been all but severed. Hamas' bureau in Tehran, long treated as a de facto embassy, no longer has a permanent representative.