Source: Iran, Russians Played 'Important' Role In Peace Deal

Oct. 12—President Donald Trump, discussing his upcoming trip to the Middle East as Hamas prepared to release 20 living hostages and the war in Gaza stops under the Trump Peace Plan, informed reporters Oct. 11 that both Iran and Russia were "enthusiastic" supporters of his plan and that was very helpful.

Trump had told Fox's Sean Hannity that Iran had backed his Plan and the effort to secure Hamas agreement. Hannity was visibly shocked by that comment as he was trying to draw Trump into supporting possible future attacks by Israel on Iran.

Most people had no idea what the President was talking about, but sources close to the negotiations report that something Iran did was crucial to making Hamas see that the Trump Plan was not only the best, but the only way to avoid further useless slaughter of innocent Palestinians and themselves by the Butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, who Trump had forced to accept the Plan and ceasefire.

Iran’s Message to Hamas Military Wing, Political Leaders

These sources say that while the political leadership of Hamas had bought into the Plan, its military wing was deeply divided over what they thought was a bad deal, which essentially had what remained of its trained fighting personnel and young newer recruits—who had joined to get a gun, food, and some pay—give up the fight. 

Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of the military wing of Hamas in Gaza, reportedly reached out to Iranian contacts to ask whether Tehran, if Hamas kept fighting, was going to resupply Hamas with weapons, munitions, and money, all of which supplies in hand were running low, with there being almost no cash to pay its new recruits. These sources report that Iran told Hamas that this would be impossible and that there would be no help coming from them. They were told to accept the deal that was on the table, backed by Trump.

The sources also reported that, despite their often-fiery rhetoric against the United States and Trump for U.S. participation in Israel's attack on Iran last summer, the Iranians believe that Trump will prevent future attacks by the madman Netanyahu and wants a negotiated settlement of the nuclear issue. The Iranians reportedly also communicated to Hamas’s political wing in Doha, which was handling the negotiations on the Trump Plan, that Trump can be trusted if he says the war in Gaza is over if the Plan is agreed to; they pointed out that the war with Israel ended because Trump declared it over and that he even forced Israeli fighter-bombers to reverse their course and go back to Israel to make his word true. Hamas was told by Iran that it supported the Trump Plan.

Sources close to the White House say that if Iran had responded differently—had it told the Hamas fighters that it would continue to support them—there would have been no deal, as the political wing of Hamas would not have been able to deliver its fighters in Gaza to implement the Plan.

Russia’s Role in Pressuring Iran and Supporting the Plan

Russia and its President, Vladimir Putin, played a similar complementary role, these same sources report. Russia and Putin directly placed pressure on Iran to support the Plan and to start thinking about a new peace policy in the region, in which they would no longer support groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen as their "protection" against Israel. He has told Iranian leaders that they need to make a deal with President Trump on the nuclear issue and he has volunteered Russia as a guarantor of such a deal, and offered Russian help in providing Iran with enriched uranium, in which Russia would agree to supervise and participate in whatever enrichment program is worked, including a regional condominium.

Russia has also communicated directly with Hamas, telling them they can trust Trump and that he was the only person who could drive Israel to make and keep a deal. Putin is publicly on record as supporting the Trump Plan and has offered Trump any help he might require bringing it to realization. He has done so while expressing Russia's continued support for Palestinian statehood.

“President Trump has put forward well-known initiatives, and, as you have seen, Russia supported them almost immediately,” Putin said Oct. 10 at the second Russia-Central Asia summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. “We very much hope that these initiatives of the US President will be implemented."

“Russia has always believed that the problems of the Middle East can only be resolved through political and diplomatic means,” he said, adding that Moscow is ready to “support any peaceful efforts aimed at stopping the bloodshed and bringing calm to the region.” He stressed that 'the most important, indispensable condition for long-term stabilization is the creation of an independent Palestinian state.'|"

Putin also said that Russia might be of assistance to Trump in the next stages of the deal, including in helping set up a Palestinian police force capable of taking control of Gaza from Hamas.

During the negotiations around the Trump Plan, Putin called Netanyahu, expressing his opposition to Hamas's massacre attack on Israel Oct. 7, 2023, and urging Bibi to sign on to the Trump Plan.

Behind-the-Scenes Diplomacy and Broader Implications

"Trump is very much aware of what is going on behind the scenes, with Russia and Iran, and how important it is," said a source in contact with the Gaza negotiations. "But he knows the establishment media, which is pushing for war and conflict, has no interest in reporting that real diplomacy works. That is why he keeps mentioning it. In the end, if both Russia and Iran choose peace, that could be the critical factor in making sure there is peace, in the region and everywhere else. In his comments Oct. 10, Putin stressed that these matters were discussed in the Alaska Summit and said something like 'Donald and I agreed we work together on this [an end to the war in Gaza] and we are doing that. On that issue and many others within the framework of the Alaska summit.' That is why Trump will not give up on reaching a deal on Ukraine as well."