Iranian newspaper Islamic Republic – a publication aligned with, and controlled by, “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – ran an editorial this week that described the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023, as “a mistake that cost Iran dearly.”
The Jerusalem Post observed on Sunday that such an opinion is a remarkable change of pace coming from a mouthpiece of the Iranian theocracy.
Although Islamic Republic stuck to the party line by referring to the October 7 atrocities as “the Al-Aqsa Flood operation,” a name that suggests it was a legitimate military operation instead of the wanton rape and slaughter of innocents, the editorial was in every other respect a sharp break from Tehran’s past praise for Hamas and the October 7 atrocities.
The editorial ran down a list of all the setbacks Iran has suffered since the October 7 attacks, including Syria’s break from what Iran likes to call the “Axis of Resistance” and its “shift toward alignment with the United States and Israel.”
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, who had seemingly survived a brutal 14-year civil war with heavy assistance from Russia and Iran, was abruptly overthrown in December 2024 by an alliance of rebel groups led by former al-Qaeda officer Ahmed al-Sharaa. Iran and Russia had been weakened too much by the Gaza war and invasion of Ukraine, respectively, to save Assad one more time.
Sharaa has been aggressively courting the United States and its allies for recognition and assistance with postwar rebuilding, and his efforts won the approval of President Donald Trump, plus relief from sanctions imposed on the Assad regime.
Sharaa has also been working to de-escalate Syria’s conflicts with Israel. Rumors began flowing over the weekend that Syria could release the remains of Eli Cohen, an Israeli spy publicly executed by Syria in 1965. Returning Cohen’s remains to Israel would be a significant gesture on the part of the new government in Damascus.
Islamic Republic moaned that Syria’s move into America’s orbit was “direct damage from Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” and was “one of the most damaging developments of the past two years” from Iran’s perspective.
“The truth is, contrary to what many commentators and analysts claim, Operation ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ was a mistake. We believed this from the first moments we heard about the operation, and after two years have passed, we are even more convinced of it,” the editorial stated.
The Iranian regime newspaper also mourned the devastation of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the death of its longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, along with many of his top lieutenants.
Even Iran’s disastrous military conflicts with Israel over the past two years were mentioned, although using very careful language that repeated Iran’s comical propaganda that Israel suffered “heavy losses.”
In truth, Israel defeated two Iranian missile attacks and then penetrated Iran’s air defenses with astonishing ease when it bombed Iran’s nuclear weapons program and Iranian leadership in June. Islamic Republic came closer than any Iranian publication to admitting how poorly Iran fared in those exchanges.
“The bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities is another disastrous consequence of the war Hamas started,” the editorial complained, referring to the U.S. strikes that destroyed Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities in June.
President Donald Trump’s historic speech to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, on Monday mentioned the American attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump said he believed Iran could be closer to making a peace deal, and abandoning its nuclear ambitions, due to the losses Tehran has suffered since the October 7 attack.
“We are ready when you are, and it will be the best decision that Iran has ever made, and it’s going to happen,” Trump told the Knesset.
“I’m telling you, they want to make a deal,” Trump said of the Iranians. “It would be great if we could make a deal.”
Tehran is still keeping its hostile and intransigent posture for now, which risks isolating Iran even further as the balance of power shifts in the Middle East. On Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian refused an invitation from Egypt to attend the Gaza peace summit organized by Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Most of the other major Middle Eastern powers will be in attendance.
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