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Israel launched the attack in Beirut on Tuesday as top leaders of Iran-backed regional militant groups, known as the “Axis of Resistance,” were in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Massoud Pezeshkian.
Even before Israel launched its strike against the Hezbollah commander, Iranian military leaders were expected to meet with the militant’s leaders to discuss the looming threat of war between Israel and Hezbollah.
According to Iranian media reports, the Iranian Embassy in Beirut condemned the “cowardly and criminal attack” in a statement on Tuesday. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani also strongly condemned the attack in a separate statement, calling it a “clear violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.” He warned that Hezbollah and Lebanon have the right to retaliate against Israel and said Iran will hold Israel and the United States accountable for a wider regional war.
The threat of a regional war could bring Mr. Pezeshkian the first major crisis of his presidency. Iran has pursued a dual policy of avoiding direct involvement in a full-scale war while supporting a network of militant groups that open fronts toward Israel from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
The inauguration is usually an opportunity for Iran to showcase its domestic policies to foreign dignitaries. But this year, the turmoil in the Middle East and Iran’s key role in shaping events through its influence over a network of militant groups were also prominent themes.
Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon, took his oath Tuesday by placing his hand on the Quran at a podium decorated with green, white and red flowers, the colors of the Iranian flag. In his speech, he spoke of Iran’s support for the Palestinian cause.
“We want a world where Palestinians are free from injustice and occupation,” he said. “Let no Palestinian child’s dream be buried under the rubble of their homeland. We can help realize that dream.”
Senior officials from regional militant groups were seated in the front row: Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem; Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh; Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad Al-Nakhalah; and Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam.
The leaders held separate meetings with Pezeshkian in Tehran before the ceremony and met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Video from the inauguration showed Pezeshkian and Haniyeh hugging each other on the parliament floor and raising their hands in victory signs.
In addition to radical leaders, foreign dignitaries from more than 80 countries attended the ceremony. According to Iranian media reports, a day earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Pezeshkian on the phone to discuss the growing tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
Pezeshkian, 69, promised during his campaign to change domestic policies: to ease social restrictions on women’s headscarves and internet filtering, and to improve the economy by negotiating with the West to lift crippling economic sanctions.
But he pledged to continue implementing state policy toward Israel and supporting militant groups as decided by Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards. Iran has long viewed the network of militant groups it funds, arms and supports as a line of defense and has warned that if Israel launches a broad attack on Hezbollah it would face coordinated retaliation on multiple fronts.
“Iran does not want war. He has been telling Hezbollah to control tensions with Israel. But at the same time, we will not stand idly by and watch our most important ally suffer an existential attack,” Nasser Imani, an analyst close to the government, said in a telephone interview from Tehran.
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