Initial intelligence shows Hamas attack surprised key Iranian leaders: Report

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Initial US intelligence indicates that key Iranian leaders were surprised by Saturday's Hamas attack on Israel, according to reports Wednesday that cited American officials with knowledge of multiple pieces of intelligence collected by the US.

The US, Israel and key regional allies have not found evidence that Iran directly helped plan the attack, the New York Times reported, citing American officials, an Israeli official and another official in the Middle East.

But US officials noted the investigation was ongoing and "could turn up evidence that Iran or other states were directly involved in the Hamas operation," according to the report.

White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told a news conference Wednesday that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran was directly linked to the attack.

"We're obviously recognize that there's broad complicity here by the Iranians, I mean, because of the longstanding support to Hamas. Hamas wouldn't have been able to function at all had it not been for propping up by the Iranian regime," said Kirby. “But we haven't seen any specific evidence that tells us they were wittingly involved in the planning or involved in the resourcing and the training that went into this very complex set of attacks over the weekend."