Officials from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) urged Hamas delegation members not to sign Thursday's disarmament deal, Axios reported on Friday, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Hamas representatives reportedly met with IRGC officials on a recent visit to Iran for the funeral of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, Axios reported, adding that a senior US official also claimed Iran tried to convince Hamas not to sign the deal, but said the group chose not to listen.
‘Lasting peace, security’: BoP reaches ‘historic’ Hamas disarmament deal, Trump announces
The Board of Peace reached an agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza, US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday night in a post to Truth Social.
"Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza. This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY," Trump wrote.
Hamas, Palestinian factions agree to entire outline for first time
Senior White House Board of Peace officials told The Jerusalem Post that "Hamas had a lot of concerns. It took months of delicate negotiations to bring us to this breakthrough and we will move in the coming weeks to advance its implementation."
"We spoke with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu," the officials went on. "We wanted to cut off the transfer of funds directly to Hamas."
The officials added that "there was intensive planning every day to create a successful Gaza, we raised funds, soldiers for the international stabilization force, we trained local Palestinian forces to take the reins from Hamas."
Idan Kweller and Miriam Sela-Eitam contributed to this report.