Last week, Iran’s leaders found themselves in a familiar position. The Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was the latest in a series of assassinations of senior figures with ties to the regime.
In a short statement eulogising Nasrallah, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, declared that Israel had “not become victorious” by carrying out the strike on Nasrallah, which he described as an “atrocity”. Khamenei insisted that Israel would face “more crushing” blows in retribution. But those blows are to come from the groups of the “resistance front” and not from Iran itself.
The absence of any direct vow of revenge in Khamenei’s statement has led to concerns among many in Tehran that Israel is exposing Iranian weakness. To assuage such concerns, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander has reportedly briefed Iranian parliamentarians that the successful strike on Nasrallah did not degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities…..more
