
This handout picture released by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him looking on as he makes a speech to visitors in Tehran. AFP
"The Islamic Republic does not have a proxy force. Yemen fights because it has faith. Hezbollah fights because the power of faith draws it into the field. Hamas and (the Islamic) Jihad fight because their beliefs compel them to do so. They do not act as our proxy," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a group of visitors in Tehran.
"They (the Americans) keep saying that the Islamic Republic has lost its proxy forces in the region! This is another mistake," he said, adding: "If one day we want to take action, we do not need a proxy force."
Earlier this month, Syrian militants' lightning push to Damascus from their strongholds in the northwest ended the decades-long rule of Assad's family, which had been an ally of Tehran.
Khamenei predicted "the emergence of a strong, honourable group" in Syria, saying the country's young men had "nothing to lose."
"His university, school, home, street and life are insecure; what should he do? He must stand with strength and determination against those who have designed this insecurity and those who have implemented it, and God willing, he will overcome them."
The axis of resistance also includes Hamas, the Houthis and smaller Shia militia groups in Iraq.
The remarks came after a year of Israeli wars in Lebanon and Gaza, that saw Hezbollah and Hamas suffer losses, and two weeks after the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who had been a key link in Tehran's axis of resistance.
Another spoke of that axis, Yemen's Houthi rebels, have been repeatedly targeted by the United States and Britain over their attacks on Israel-linked shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
The Houthis have said they will halt attacks on Israel—and on ships entering and leaving the country—once a ceasefire is established in the Israeli war on Gaza. Hezbollah made a similar demand but agreed to a ceasefire last month after Israel brutally escalated its war on Lebanon in October.
Israel has killed at least 45,227 people in Gaza, the majority of them women and children. The toll includes 107,573 people who have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the Israeli assault began in October 2023.
All of the groups are united in their opposition to Israel and its main backer the United States.
The supreme leader, who has the final say in major state policies, also accused the United States of trying to create chaos and unrest in Iran.
"The Iranian nation will trample under its strong feet anyone who accepts America's mercenary role in this regard," he said.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
Short link: