TEHRAN -- President Ebrahim Raisi has hailed the “effective deterrence” of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah in the face of the Israeli enemy and takfiri groups, saying it has turned into a successful model for other countries.
“Lebanon’s Hezbollah has succeeded in displaying effective deterrence against the Zionist enemy, takfiri groups and, in general, overt and covert conspiracies,” Raisi told Hezbollah deputy head Sheikh Naim Qassem here.
Hezbollah, Raisi said, has created hope in the hearts of nations to resist against the enemies and thus “the enemy is trying to prevent the spread of this effective model in every possible way” by, namely, closing a number of pro-resistance media outlets.
Qassem, for his part, said Hezbollah is the only group that has managed to maintain its unity and solidarity with the Lebanese people in the face of the Zionist enemy’s aggression and conspiracies.
Raeisi also said the Islamic Republic will continue to support Palestine as the main issue of the Muslim world.
“We have never had and will never have any doubt about this policy. In our view, Palestine has been and will be the first issue of the Muslim world,” he said in a meeting with Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh.
Raisi commended Haniyeh’s optimistic stance on the liberation of Al-Quds and the end of Palestine’s occupation and said “Operation al-Quds Sword” -- the Palestinian resistance groups’ 11-day retaliatory rocket and missile launches in response to Israel’s brutal bombing campaign of Gaza in May -- showed that a great leap has been made in the fight against the occupiers.
“Today, signs of great victory of the resistant movement have emerged and Operation Al-Quds Sword was one of the signs of this victory,” he said.
In Operation Sword Al-Quds, he added, the resistance forces tightened the noose on the Zionist enemy in a way that neither the Zionists themselves nor their supporters could even imagine.
He noted that the Palestinians’’ victory in the operation brought hope to the friends and disappointed the enemies of the resistance and said, “The most important message of this victory was that the theory of resistance in Palestine has worked and will work.”
For his part, Haniyeh said many hostile positions of the Israeli regime, the United States, and some other countries against Iran are rooted in the Islamic Republic’s support for resistance movements and its refusal to accept the U.S. plans for Palestine and emphasized that Hamas stands by Iran in the face of such hostile policies.
He added that Iran has always attached special significance to the issue of Palestine since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Haniyeh expressed his optimism about the future of Hamas and noted that Operation Al-Quds Sword has changed the international community’s perception of resistance movements and the balance of power in the region.
The Hamas official said the U.S. plans for regional countries have failed, referring to the withdrawal of the American forces from Afghanistan and Iraq after years of occupation as a good proof in this regard.
Speaking in a meeting with Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah, Raisi stressed the importance of supporting the oppressed Palestinian people against Israeli aggression.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no doubt in supporting Palestine, and we will always defend the rights of these oppressed people,” he said.
He said the Islamic Jihad is an effective group in defending the rights of the Palestinian people, and said the resistance movements would determine the fate of Palestine until the final victory.
Nakhalah, for his part, said the Islamic Republic is a model of peaceful transition of power in the world while there was a power transfer conflict in the U.S. just a few months ago.
In a meeting with Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Talal Naji and his deputy Abu Ahmad Fuad,
the Iranian president said Palestine and the liberation of Holy Al-Quds are the most important issues of the Muslim world.
He added that the Palestinian fighters refused to trust any process of compromise and urged the resistance movements to continue to tread on such a bright path with firm determination and by relying on the God Almighty.
President Raisi also underscored the importance of strengthening solidarity and unity among the resistance groups to achieve greater victories.
The Israeli regime now suffers more desperation and resistance groups enjoy increasing power, Raisi said.
For his part, Naji said resistance will continue until the final victory against the Zionist regime, adding that the resistance front would stand by the Iranian people because the Islamic Republic seeks to protect security of the entire region.
Separately, President Raisi said promotion of dialogue and interaction among regional countries along with prevention of foreign interference is key to solving issues of the region.
“If there is a problem or an issue among regional countries, they should be resolved through dialogue and interaction and no room should be allowed for foreign powers to interfere in the region,” Raisi said in a meeting with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser al-Muhammad al-Ahmed al-Jaber Al Sabah.
Regional countries, he said, should further improve ties because the enemies and ill-wishers are against cordial relations among them.
The president said relations between Iran and Kuwait are much longer than the 60-year-old diplomatic ties and are rooted in the two nations’ common beliefs.
“There is no obstacle in the way of developing interaction between the two countries and I believe that a new era has begun in cooperation among regional countries,” Raisi pointed out.
The Kuwaiti foreign minister expressed hope that Tehran and Kuwait City would open a new chapter in ties, and said his country is ready to start cooperation with the new Iranian administration to draw up an operational plan aimed at enhancing all-out relations between the two countries.
Raisi also said regional security and stability should be ensured by the regional countries. He said hegemonic and arrogant powers have never taken any effective step to solve the problem of insecurity in the region, but have only hatched plots to fan the flame of tensions.
In a meeting with president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region Nechirvan Barzani, the Iranian president said foreign powers and their plots are the cause of insecurity in the region.
“Regional countries and nations must be vigilant in confronting plots and covert influence of the hegemons and not allow them to interfere,” he said.
He also urged firm steps to use the existing capacities to enhance ties and boost the welfare of Iran and Iraq.
For his part, Barzani said the Kurdistan region is determined to open a new chapter in economic, cultural and political relations with Iran given the two sides’ great potentials.
The Kurdistan Region is also committed to safeguarding Iran’s security and would not allow anyone to use its soil to carry out any measure against the Islamic Republic, he added.