BEIRUT (Dispatches) --
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday said the Islamic Republic of Iran once again won a great victory against the Western-Israeli sedition.
This process will continue,” Nasrallah added, in a televised address marking Hezbollah’s “Martyr Day”.
The Hezbollah chief touched on Iran’s fuel aid to Lebanon, after Iraqi media reports on Wednesday said a convoy of tankers carrying fuel from Iran to Lebanon had come under Israeli attack on the Iraqi-Syrian border.
“When our country was involved in severe financial and fuel crises, the Iranian officials agreed to provide us with fuel, oil and gasoline in Lebanese lira, but the Americans warned and threatened.
“Even in the issue of electricity and other energies, Lebanon sent official requests to Iran along with political and technical delegations, and Iran accepted their demands without any restrictions. But why has the aid been stopped for months? Because a curse named America is against it and has made threats... this is something that the Lebanese should know,” Nasrallah added.
The U.S. warned Lebanon on Wednesday against accepting free gifts of fuel from Iran, telling the crisis-hit country that it could be subject to U.S. sanctions if it goes ahead with the importation of Iranian oil.
Lebanese media reported that the U.S. had informed Prime Minister Najib Mikati that free gifts of fuel from Iran were subject to American sanctions.
A U.S. legal firm told the Lebanese government that the country must apply for a special exemption in order to import the fuel and not be subject to sanctions, according to the Lebanese Al-Akhbar news website, but that the U.S. had no intention of agreeing to this.
Iran in September said that it was prepared to provide Lebanon with 660,000 tonnes of gasoline in order to ease electricity cuts in the crisis-hit country.
According to Al-Akhbar, U.S. officials had previously said that sanctions on Iran applied only to purchases, not gifts, and that there would be no problem if Lebanon received the Iranian gift.
However, U.S. officials later changed their mind, according to Al-Akhbar. The previous reassurance was made when Lebanon was still involved in U.S.-mediated negotiations to demarcate maritime borders with the occupying regime of Israel. The deal was signed last month.
“Some consider their guarantee for the sea border deal to be U.S. commitment but our real guarantee is the elements of strength that Lebanon possesses,” Nasrallah said Friday.
“Washington did not conclude the maritime border demarcation agreement for the sake of Lebanon, but rather to spare the region from war because its priorities are now Ukraine, Russia, and energy.”
Nasrallah also said both Democrats and Republicans in the United States have always supported the Zionist regime’s crimes and killing of Palestinians.
“Both Republican and Democratic governments have launched wars and invasions,” he said referring to U.S. midterm elections.
Nasrallah openly announced that his party wants a new president for Lebanon who “would reassure the resistance.”
“We do not want a president who would provide a cover for the resistance, because it does not need protection. We want a president who would not stab the resistance in the back,” he said.
“The resistance was safe throughout the past years during President Michel Aoun’s tenure. We want a brave man who does not get scared and who cannot be bought or sold,” Nasrallah went on to say.
“We want a president in Baabda who would reassure the resistance,” he stressed, referring to the presidential palace.
Noting that “the elements of strength in Lebanon must be preserved and one of the most posts concerned with this is the presidency,” Nasrallah noted that “vacuum in the presidency is not anyone’s objective.”
He however stressed that “we should not rush to fill the void with any president.”
As for the fate of the sea border demarcation deal with the occupying regime of Israel after Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to power, Nasrallah said: “What’s protecting Lebanon are God and the army-people-resistance equation of strength.”
“It makes no difference to us who wins the Israeli elections, because all Zionist governments are occupiers; they are brutal and criminal,” Nasrallah added.