10 Facts About Iran Sponsoring Terrorism
5. Hamas
Iran supplies political support and weapons to Hamas, an organization classified by Israel, the United States, Canada, the European Union, Egypt, Australia and Japan as a terrorist organization. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, has said that Hamas is funded by Iran. It claims it is financed by donations, but the donations are nothing like what it receives from Iran. From 2000 to 2004, Hamas was responsible for killing nearly 400 Israelis and wounding more than 2,000 in 425 attacks, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2001 through May 2008, Hamas launched more than 3,000 Qassam rockets and 2,500 mortar attacks into Israel.
In the late 1980’s, 10% of all Hamas funding came from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Later, from 1993 to 2006, Iran provided Hamas with approximately US$30 million annually. More recent assessments indicate that Iranian funding has increased significantly between 2006 and 2009, to hundreds of millions of Euros per year. After 2009, sanctions on Iran made funding difficult, forcing Hamas instead to rely on religious donations by individuals in the West Bank, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
