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Letter backs Hezbollah
Iran’s newly named supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei reaffirmed Iran’s support for Hezbollah in a letter addressed to Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem and the movement’s commanders and fighters.
“Trump joked after the Lebanese president praised him: Now he can get anything he wants”
In the letter, Khamenei praised Hezbollah’s “perseverance and steadfastness” and described the group as being at the forefront of resistance to “Israel” and its supporters.
Khamenei also credited the Lebanese people, particularly communities in southern Lebanon, for supporting Hezbollah, and said defending Hezbollah remained one of the Islamic Republic’s strategic policies.
The message was published as a response to a letter from Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem and Hezbollah commanders and fighters, according to WANA News Agency.
WANA said the Supreme Leader declared that defending Hezbollah’s fighters is a strategic policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Conditions for ceasefire
Khamenei’s letter tied Iran’s position on any agreement to conditions involving Lebanon and Israeli attacks, stating that preserving Lebanon’s territorial integrity and securing a “complete and unconditional” end to Israeli attacks were Iran’s principal conditions.
Tehran Times reported that Khamenei said the “complete, unconditional halt to the Zionist regime’s aggression” remained Iran’s non-negotiable prerequisite under the 14-point June 17 memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the United States to end the war.
In the same framing, Iran’s Supreme Leader said there was “no path but jihad and resistance,” and the letter accused the United States and Israel of oppression and injustice.
CNN Arabic said Khamenei emphasized that “the first condition in the memorandum of understanding to end the war imposed by the aggressor United States” was preserving Lebanese unity and ensuring a “complete and unconditional” halt to Israeli attacks.
The CNN Arabic report also said the letter described Hezbollah’s stance as “an inspiring message” and said “jihad and resistance” were the only remaining path.
Nuclear and regional context
Beyond the Hezbollah letter, Iran’s broader conflict context in the sources includes claims about Israeli strikes damaging Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and the US “Midnight Hammer” operation against its main enrichment sites.
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ایران اینترنشنال reported that David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security and a former UN weapons inspector, said, “It appears that the bulk of the sites that were needed to make nuclear weapons have been hit,” while adding that Israel may know of new sites.
The report also said the Journal identified Pickaxe Mountain, known in Iran as Mount Kolang, as the most likely target because Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels there after last year’s 12-day war.
In the same package of reporting, the sources described President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying he would order Ukrainian intelligence to provide partner countries information about Russia’s assistance to Iran in preparing strikes against US military facilities and regional states.
Zelenskyy said, “I will instruct our intelligence to share with our partners the information we have regarding Russia’s new assistance to the Iranian regime,” and the report added that he alleged four air bases fell within the area of interest of Russian satellites on July 19 and 20 alone.
