Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is known for his passionate and direct speeches which usually coincide with commemorations, Islamic holidays, or are in response to important regional events. He does not mince words nor is he shy when it comes to calling out Western nations, specifically the United States, and their regional allies for creating instability in the Middle East.
On May 31st, Nasrallah gave his most recent speech at a ceremony commemorating “International Quds Day” in Beirut, Lebanon. Among other things, he noted the strengthen of the axis of resistance, and stated that Hezbollah has precision arsenals that could change the face of the region.
While responding to recent comments made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Imam Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that there will “neither be a war nor negotiations” with the United States, Nasrallah focused on two reasons why there will not be a war between the United States and Iran.
The first reason being Iran’s strength, and the second being that a war with Iran would make the entire region go up in flames. Nasrallah said that if Iran was not a force to be reckoned with and was in fact weak, that a war would have erupted a long time ago. He described Iran as strong and capable due to its people, armed forces, its establishment, its leader, its religious authorities, its scholars, its elite and because it relies on Allah and has a close relationship with Him.
Nasrallah said all these things not only make Iran strong but frightening (to its enemies). Nasrallah believes that Trump knows how powerful Iran is and this is the first reason why there will not be a war with Iran.
As for the second reason, Nasrallah said that the Trump and his administration as well as his intelligence apparatus know very well that war against Iran will not remain within the borders of Iran, he said that a war against Iran will lead to the entire region going up in flames.
Nasrallah went on to say that all American forces and American interests in the region will be eradicated. He said that all of those who colluded and schemed with the US will pay the price, with a special emphasis on Israel and Saudi Arabia. He also mentioned Saudi Arabia’s inadequacies in Yemen.
In a speech on February 6th, 2019 at a ceremony marking forty years since the “victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran”, Sayyed Nasrallah spoke about the “real reasons” why the United States has been waging war on Iran for the last forty years.
Nasrallah spoke about how most of the world’s media outlets are presenting a dark/evil image of Iran, while they remain silent about the oldest dictatorships and the worst and most corrupt regimes across the Arab and Islamic world and ignore the wrong doings of their rulers who rob their own people of the most basic essentials while they themselves enjoy glorious titles and all of life’s luxuries.
The conflict we are seeing now in the region has been referred to as many things such as an Israeli Iranian war and a Saudi Iranian war. Nasrallah said that what is occurring in the Middle East is not an Israeli Iranian war. Nor is it a Saudi Iranian conflict. That Israel’s conflict with the region including Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians, and the Arab people has been going on since 1948, not since 1979. Nasrallah said that the correct way to label this battle is that it is an American war against the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1979. He said that Saudi Arabia is a tool within this war as are other certain Gulf States.
Nasrallah said that Washington is insisting on fighting a war against Iran for two reasons, the first being Iran’s independence, capabilities and resources, the second being Iran’s regional position.
Iran is an independent sovereign state, that makes its own decisions. The United States wants to exploit Iran’s resources. Iran’s resources include oil, gas reserves, steel, metal, mineral reserves, it has its own rivers, seas, borders, ports, and does not submit to nor work for Washington, it works for the interest of its people, nation, and country. Nasrallah said that this is something Washington can not tolerate. He used the example of US interests in Venezuela, that they are not there for the sake of democracy but for the oil and that the US administration views Iran in the same way.
As for Iran’s regional position, Nasrallah said that its support for the oppressed and its principled position regarding Palestine, as well as its support for the resistance movements in the region as well as its position in Yemen and Bahrain all fall under the second reason. He mentions that in 1979 Iran did not aid nor did it intervene in resistance movements other than taking a political stance, when the United States waged a war against Iran. He said that Hezbollah wasn’t even created till 1982 and Hamas came after 1982, therefore the notion that the sanctions and targeting of Iran started or are due to its support for resistance movements is a fallacy.
Nasrallah notes that as long as Iran is strong the external pressures of war will continue, but that regardless of any internal debates and differences that Iranians will hold on to their freedom, independence and sovereignty and their national and Islamic dignity. Iranians will not relinquish or back down from this red line.
The United States under a façade of genuine concern for the Iranian people is still after regime change. However, applying maximum pressure on the Iranian people through harsh sanctions, economic warfare, increase propaganda and military presence is having the opposite effect. Iranians more united now than ever before.
