The secretary-general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has asserted that Iran would “emerge stronger” following a string of “US-backed Israeli assassinations” of its senior military commanders and nuclear scientists.
“Iran will emerge stronger, and Israel will come to regret its brutality and recklessness,” Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Friday.
The comments came shortly after the regime launched a string of attacks on various residential areas in some Iranian cities, including the capital, Tehran.
The aggression that featured targeted killing strikes led to the martyrdom of Major General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, Major General Hossein Salami, chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Major General Gholam-Ali Rashid, commander of the Islamic Republic’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.
Veteran nuclear scientists Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi, Fereydoun Abbasi, and Dr. Abdol-Hamid Minoucher were also among the victims.
Sheikh Qassem described the deadly violence as a “criminal Israeli assault” that was “fully supported by the US administration.”
He defined the prospect of the Israeli regime’s and its main supporter, namely the United States’ coming to rue the aggression as certain, saying the Islamic Republic’s pending response to the atrocities would make the duo lament ever having subjected the country to such acts of deadly aggression.
“The criminal Israeli regime and its tyrannical backer, the United States, will reap nothing but disgrace and defeat,” Sheikh Qassem underscored.
Referring to the victims of the aggression, the Hezbollah leader declared, “Their martyrdom will only reinforce Iran’s strength and resolve.”
‘Major consequences’
The resistance leader warned that the Israeli attacks were to be followed by “major consequences” for the entire West Asia region.
He denounced Tel Aviv and Washington for trying to silence a voice that had consistently supported the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, including amid an October 2023-present genocidal Israeli war, and, by extension, the Palestinian cause of liberation from Israeli occupation and aggression.
He also hailed Tehran for having unexceptionally rendered support to the resistance movements across the region since the victory of the country’s Islamic Revolution in 1979.
US, Israel can’t change Iran’s course
Sheikh Qassem, meanwhile, underlined that no measure of aggression on the part of the Israeli regime and the US would ever either alter Iran’s strategic direction or influence its crucial role throughout the region.
“Iran remains a beacon of dignity and resistance and will continue to be a leading force in defending the oppressed across the region and the world.”
In his remarks, the resistance official also condoled with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and the Iranian people over the martyrdom of the victims.
Sheikh Qassem identified Ayatollah Khamenei as “our leader and guardian,” and also extended his condolences to “the noble and steadfast” Iranian nation.
The official finally vowed that Hezbollah would stay aligned with Iran amid the atrocities, and back its right to retaliation.
