Hezbollah’s Naim Qassem backs Iran, says group is not ‘on the sidelines’

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem declared Iran a global symbol of resistance and vowed unwavering support for its leadership amid rising tensions with the United States and Israel.

In a statement issued Thursday, Qassem praised Iran for championing the oppressed and backing regional resistance movements, particularly in Palestine and Lebanon, adding that Tehran’s support for liberation movements has come at a high cost but remains principled and consistent.

He dismissed U.S. and Israeli claims that Iran’s nuclear program poses a threat, calling the program peaceful and legitimate under international law. 

“Their only pretext is uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes—something that poses no harm and serves the Iranian people,” he said.

Qassem warned that American threats against Iran’s leadership represent a broader attack on the region’s people and on global freedom movements. 

"The U.S. is dragging the region into chaos and instability, but it will gain nothing but shame and failure,” he stated.

Hezbollah, he stressed, does not stand on the sidelines. “We are not neutral between Iran’s legitimate rights and the aggression of the United States and Israel,” he said. “We stand firmly alongside Iran against this global injustice.”

Qassem called on “all free people, the oppressed, and voices of reason” to publicly support Iran and rally around its leadership. “Unity is the only way to block the path of domination and stop the goals of this aggression,” he declared.

He concluded by stating that neither the U.S. nor Israel would succeed in bringing down the Iranian people or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.