Hezbollah stands strong, won't let Israel commit folly: Iran

Iran's Interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has praised the remarkable capabilities of the resistance front in the region, warning that the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah will respond to any follies by the Israeli occupation regime.

Bagheri Kani made the statement in an interview with Russia's RT news channel on the sidelines of a two-day meeting of foreign ministers of the BRICS group of countries in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod as he pointed to fierce exchanges of fire between the Tel Aviv regime and Hezbollah since October last year.

“The Zionists have suffered historic defeats from the Lebanese people and resistance,” he said. “If the Zionists had succeeded in resisting the oppressed and unarmed people of Gaza over the past eight months, they could hope to achieve success by expanding the war and conflict in Lebanon.”

Describing as a “strategic mistake” Israel’s attempts to expand the war on Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip to Lebanese soil, Bagheri Kani said, “The resistance front both in Palestine and Lebanon enjoy such power that they will not allow the Zionists to achieve any of their goals.”

Bagheri Kani added, “The resistance in Lebanon as an independent, fully developed and intelligent force will definitely not allow the Zionists to commit any follies.”

The top Iranian diplomat said the main feature of resistance is that it is based on the people’s will and faith, stressing, “The resistance can never be considered a group… the reality is that the war in Gaza showed that the resistance is the people.”

“The Zionists tried many times to make it appear to the world public opinion that there is a gap between the resistance and the people in Gaza, but during the last eight months, they could not substantiate this false protestation,” he added.

Gaza developments ‘blatant war crime, undisguised genocide’

Bagheri Kani touched on the issue of Israel’s recent barbaric attacks in southern Gaza and said the aggression is beyond a conflict.

“I need to emphasize that what is coming to pass in Gaza is not a conflict, but a blatant war crime and an undisguised act of genocide, to which the oppressed Palestinian nation has fallen victim, and the Zionists, as aggressors, criminals, and occupiers are the main culprit in this crime, and the Americans are the main supporter of the Zionists in these crimes,” he said.

“The resistance in Palestine has stood up in the face of the Zionists for the past eight months with bare hands but has not allowed the Zionists to achieve even their smallest goals in this region,” he added.

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Iran, Russia ties strengthen regional, global stability

Elsewhere in his interview with RT, Bagheri Kani said bilateral cooperation between Iran and Russia results in the consolidation of stability and security in the region and across the world.  

“Relations between Iran and Russia ... are historical. The relations between Iran and Russia have developed and expanded in all aspects. Of course, it is natural that the more serious threats Iran and Russia face, the greater their solidarity will be to face common challenges and threats,” he said.

Bagheri Kani also underlined that Iran and Russia are simultaneously working within the framework of multilateralism by their active participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS group.

E3 seeking ‘political settlement’ with Iran in IAEA

The interim Iranian foreign minister censured a recent move by Britain, France and Germany to have spearheaded a resolution against Tehran at the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“Since about two years ago, the Europeans have not taken any positive action in the field of negotiations. Certainly, the move by the three European countries is one of their deceitful actions ..while they show no seriousness and will to pursue the negotiations, they unjustly accuse Iran of evading and violating its commitments,” Bagheri Kani said.

He stressed that the three European countries had turned the IAEA into a venue to settle " their own political" score with Iran, which he said "will definitely be of no avail.”       

Bagheri Kani also said Iranians are about to create another epic by their high turnout in the June 28 presidential election as "the vote can be a support for the consolidation of the Islamic establishment, as well as stability and security in the region."

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