BEIRUT -- Lebanon’s Hezbollah Secretary- General Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic of Iran has placed stopping Israeli aggression against Lebanon and the regime’s withdrawal from Lebanese soil at the top of its priorities, describing the stance as “a great sacrifice” for which Hezbollah is grateful. Speaking to Hezbollah’s Al-Ahed news outlet, Qassem said Iran’s prioritization of halting the aggression and securing Israeli withdrawal came alongside the U.S.-Iran agreement, which he said “proved its effectiveness in reducing the level of aggression against Lebanon as soon as the memorandum of understanding was signed.”
“We care about the U.S.-Iran agreement, as the only available source of strength alongside the steadfastness of the resistance, our people and its supporters,” Qassem said. 
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has placed stopping the aggression against Lebanon and withdrawal from its territory at the top of its priorities, and this is a great sacrifice, and we appreciate it.”
Qassem said the resistance in the region emerged because of Israeli occupation, which he said is backed by “the tyrants of the world, including America.” 
He said Hezbollah, since its founding in 1982, has pursued resistance “alongside all honorable people in Lebanon and the region to confront occupation and liberate the land and its people,” describing the wars the “Zionist enemy” launched under “false pretexts” as expansionist wars aimed at implementing the “Greater Israel” plan.
He said agreements signed between the enemy and those attacked “were only steps to consolidate occupation and await a new phase of war, and therefore the enemy has not adhered to any agreement.” 
He said that without U.S. and Western support, Israel could not have consolidated its occupation, let alone expanded it, and that U.S. support “led to genocidal crimes against the struggling and resistant Palestinian people in Gaza, the West Bank and all of Palestine.”
Qassem said the steadfastness of the Palestinian people against the occupying regime and the arrogance that supports it “will preserve Al-Quds and Palestine, God willing, for their owners,” adding that “the cost of resistance is heavy, but surrender and concession leave nothing behind.” 
He said that without the resistance in Lebanon and the sacrifices of its people and martyrs, “the Israeli enemy would have established settlements there and would have dominated all of Lebanon politically, administratively and territorially.”
“The resistance is the only way to fully liberate our land, even if it takes time,” Qassem said. 
He declared that the framework agreement “has no legitimacy because it contradicts the constitution, the Taif Agreement, the laws, the presidential oath and the government’s statement, and is therefore void and invalid.”
On Israel’s elections, Qassem said: “It does not matter to us who rules in the usurping Israeli regime, but this regime must know that it can never continue its occupation and must leave our land. The American guardianship and its control over parts of the state must end; guardianship is like occupation, and both are a violation of sovereignty.” 
He saluted “the remarkable unity of the people and all honorable citizens in our country and their support for the resistance,” stressing that “we all remain committed to our pledge to provide shelter, repair and rebuild the ruins of war.”