High-ranking Hamas delegation in Iran

The chief of the Palestinian Islamic resistance's (Hamas) Political Bureau, Khaled Mashaal, arrived here Sunday evening accompanied by a high-ranking delegation.

Speaking to reporters upon his arrival, Mashaal said he was in Tehran for consultations with Iranian officials and to brief them on current requirements of the Palestinian nation.

Hamas won a landslide victory in the January 25 parliamentary elections in Palestine, gaining 74 seats of the 132-member Palestinian Legislative Council.

Appreciating Tehran's "evident support" to the Palestinian cause, Mashaal said the Palestinian nation would continue its struggle for liberation of all occupied territories.

Stressing that liberation of holy Qods and repatriation of all Palestinian refugees to their homes were two of the basic rights of the Palestinian nation, the official stressed that the "Palestinians would keep up their struggle for recognition of their sovereign legitimate rights."

Mashaal, elucidating on the Palestinian struggle, said: "While peace is the message of the people of Palestine to the entire world, they seek one that would put an end to the occupation and would restore all their legitimate rights."

Declaring Hamas' recent victory in the parliamentary election as "a great triumph," Mashaal said Palestinians were proud of the democratic experience.

He said that he was currently on a regional tour with Iran as his first stop in order to consult with heads of Muslim and Arab states on the current needs of the Palestinian nation.

"The Palestinian nation is living under the yoke of Zionist occupiers and aggressors and for this reason it will always be in need of the all-out support of the Muslim and Arab world as well as those of international bodies for as long as this occupation continues," Mashaal stressed.