Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, elected in a special election this year after campaigning as a “moderate” candidate, menacingly declared weekend his regime would give Israel a “decisive” response to its elimination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Killing Nasrallah, the head of a genocidal terrorist organization responsible for the displacement of tens of thousands in northern Israel in the past year, was “unacceptable,” Pezeshkian said on Sunday, according to the Iranian propaganda outlet PressTV, and Tehran would help Hezbollah, as well as promote the “importance of supporting the Hezbollah fighters.”
Pezeshkian joined a chorus of Iranian voices, including “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, promising to avenge the removal of Nasrallah from the battlefield. The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday promised reporters that radical Islamists would soon “celebrate the death of Zionism” despite the loss of one of international jihad’s most prominent figures, and that Iran would support global efforts to destroy Israel.
Pezeshkian reportedly condemned Nasrallah’s killing on onday in conversations with several new ambassadors to Tehran, including those of Germany, Denmark, Norway, Qatar, and Niger.
“If the Islamic governments had had unity and solidarity and had acted and protested against the Zionist regime’s [Israel’s] crimes with a united voice, we would have not witnessed the commitment and rude continuation of the criminal measures of the (Israeli) regime,” Pezeshkian reportedly complained, suggesting Muslim countries are not doing enough to support anti-Israel terrorism.
A day prior, Pezeshkian declared that Iran must give a “decisive” response to Nasrallah’s death.
“Addressing a cabinet session on Sunday, Pezeshkian once again strongly condemned Israel’s assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah,” PressTV reported, “in a massive airstrike on southern Beirut on Friday using American-supplied bunker-buster bombs.”
“This crime once again proved that this criminal regime does not adhere to any of the international principles and rules,” Pezeshkian was quoted as saying, calling the removal of a mass murderer from the battlefield “unacceptable” and promising it would “not go unanswered.”
“Pezeshkian stressed the importance of supporting the Hezbollah fighters in their war with Israel,” PressTV added, “to prevent the atrocious regime from attacking countries of the axis of resistance and killing innocent women and children.”
Nasrallah died following a targeted airstrike by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Hezbollah’s compound in Beirut on Friday. The IDF reportedly eliminated a large number of Hezbollah leaders in the attack, a response to Hezbollah’s incessant terrorist attacks this year in support of fellow Iran-backed terrorist outfit Hamas. Hamas conducted an unprecedented siege of Israel on October 7, 2023, that resulted in 1,200 deaths and dozens of abductions. About 100 Israeli hostages remain in Hamas captivity at press time.
Nasrallah became the leader of Hezbollah, a Shiite genocidal jihadist organization based in Lebanon, in 1992. Hezbollah has for decades received support and guidance from the Iranian Islamist regime and has, in turn, conducted violent terrorist acts on behalf Iran. Hezbollah is particularly responsible for at least hundreds of American deaths in terrorist attacks on American targets such as embassies and military outposts.
“During the Iraq War, according to a U.S. congressional research report, Hezbollah members armed and trained Shia militias that carried out attacks on U.S. forces during their deployments between 2003 and 2011,” NPR noted in its coverage of Nasrallah’s death.
“Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror,” outgoing American President Joe Biden said in a statement. “His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians.”
Outside of targeting Israel and the United States, Argentine investigators found Hezbollah and Iran jointly responsible for 1992 and 1994 bombings in the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA), respectively. The latter bombing killed 85 people and was the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the Western Hemisphere prior to September 11, 2001. An Argentine court declared Hezbollah guilty in April of executing the attacks, adding that it did so at the Iranian government’s bidding.
Pezeshkian’s vocal support of one of the Middle East’s deadliest terror leaders contradicts the public image the Iranian president has attempted to build in the West as a “moderate” seeking to limit the power of radical Islamist elements of his government over his people. Pezeshkian campaigned as a political mildly critical of Iran’s “morality police” focused on fighting inflation and solving the problems Iranians face in their daily lives, de-emphasizing Iran’s role as the world’s premier state sponsor of terrorism. Pezeshkian has also flirted with the possibility of returning to nuclear negotiations with the United States after former President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018.
Pezeshkian has not acted to affirm the modest optimism that some political observers had that is presidency would take a more conciliatory approach to supporting jihadist terror. His comments on Nasrallah align with the kind words Khamenei offered on Saturday following the confirmation of Nasrallah’s death, in which he also predicted that jihadists would become more violent against Israel in response. Khamenei declared a five-day mourning period for Nasrallah.
“The blessing of martyrdom was his undeniable right after all these efforts,” Khamenei reportedly said.
“The Leader, however emphasized, the blessings of decades of Nasrallah’s prudence and jihad will never be lost,” the Iranian Tasnim News Agency added.
Similarly, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani celebrated Nasrallah on Monday and warned Tehran was interested in helping seek revenge on Israel.
“Iran will continue its political and legal efforts and will carry out its proportionate and decisive measures,” to avenge Nasrallah, he said.
“We have no doubt that the resistance front and the Lebanese nation will celebrate the death of Zionism and liberation of holy al-Quds [Jerusalem] in the near future,” he reportedly added.
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