New Iranian president says he will support Palestinian Islamist Hamas

Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has assured the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas of his country's support, in a letter to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the FARS news agency reported on Thursday.

"Iran will continue to fully support the oppressed Palestinian people until the realization of their legitimate demands and the liberation of the holy al-Quds," he wrote to Haniyeh, according to the report.

Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

In the letter, Pezeshkian accused Israel of pursuing an "apartheid policy" and called it a "human and Islamic duty" to work with the Palestinian people to put an end to this policy once and for all.

On Monday, Peseshkian had confirmed in a letter to the Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that he would continue with Iran's anti-Israel course.

Pezeshkian, who beat a hardliner in Iran's recent run-off and is seen as a relative moderate, is expected to be sworn in on July 30.

It is unclear how much influence he will have on the nation's foreign policy, much of which is determined by religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's most powerful man. The constitution gives him the final say in all strategic matters.

Despite his moderate rhetoric, by Iranian standards, Pezeshkian backed the powerful Revolutionary Guards during the election campaign and also praised the April drone and missile attack on arch-enemy Israel.