As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited southern Lebanon this week, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) revealed a decades-old video showing Iran's relationship to Lebanese terrorist group Hizbullah.
In the speech shown on video, Hizbullah head Hassan Nasrallah described his organization's ties to Iran as “axiomatic.” Iran's Imam Khomeini is the “rightful deputy” of the Mahdi, the redeemer promised in Shiite Islam, Nasrallah said.
“I would not have remained for a single moment in any apparatus of Hizbullah if I were not absolutely convinced that these apparatuses are connected, through a certain hierarchy, to the Jurisprudent Ruler and Leader, whose decisions are binding,” Nasrallah proclaimed. Khomeini's rulings are binding on Muslims “wherever they may be,” he added.
Iran cannot state, “Yes, Hizbullah are our people in Lebanon” for political and diplomatic reasons, he explained.
Iran currently trains, arms and funds Hizbullah, which has gained power and now has significant control, particularly in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese government has accepted Hizbullah into the ruling coalition, and has backed the terror group's demand to bear arms.
IDF officers say Hizbullah has been digging tunnels and making other preparations for war since the end of the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Iranian state media said this week that an additional clash between Lebanon and Israel is expected in the near future.