According to former Iranian president Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, chairman of Iran's powerful Expediency Council, the advanced weapon would allow the Palestinian militant group to target Israeli tanks “from a long distance.”

Rafsanjani's statement is highly provocative, in tune with a heated Iranian campaign of rhetoric against Israel's Gaza offensive.

It also suggests that Hamas may have stored up the same advanced, portable high-tech anti-tank weapons Hezbollah in Lebanon used to disable Israel's Merkava tanks during the 2006 war between the Shiite militant group and the Jewish State.

U.S. and Israeli officials accuse Iran of providing weapons to Hamas in Gaza, which has been pummeled by six days of Israeli air strikes.

In his Friday prayer sermon, Rafsanjani said Hamas fighters had the ability to beat Israeli in the battlefield:

“Zionists are vulnerable ... as the Zionists are weak by nature and rely only on material things while Palestinians are seeking to be martyrs and are ready for self sacrifice. ... Hamas missiles are homemade and simple and Hamas will not run out of them and they can produce more.”

Rafsanjani stuck a sensitive chord for Shiite Muslims worldwide by comparing Israel to Yazid, the ancient ruler who is believed to have killed Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and one of the venerated figures of Shiite Islam.

Shiite Muslims around the world are currently commemorating Ashura, a 10-day morning period during which they lament every year the death of Hussein.

"The Israelis are targeting mosques, houses and everywhere they like with laser-guided rockets from jet fighters,” he said.

Earlier, an Iranian official continued the government's harsh criticism of so-called moderate Arab regimes, mainly Egypt, who some accuse of acquiescing to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, addressed Arab rulers in a speech preceding Rafsanjani's sermon, calling for an urgent meeting for the foreign ministers of Islamic nations:

“You, who have conceded so far, you who have given up resistance ... you have helped the continued domination" of Israel.

Photo : RPG-29 Hezbollah used these upscale Russian anti-tank rockets that not only punch holes through Israeli Merkava, but also through US-made tanks. Former Iranian president Rafsanjani is threatening Israel that Hamas has a secret weapon if it decides upon a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip

Los Angeles Times