Fate of 'Resistance Front' Tied to Islamic Republic's Fate: Hezbollah Chief

The fate of the so-called "Resistance Front" is tied to that of its main sponsor, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Secretary General of Lebanon's Hezbollah said.

"Today the Islamic Republic does not just decide the Iranian nation's path... It rather decides the path and fates of regional nations and Resistance," Hassan Nasrallah said in a video message to a ceremony commemorating the 40th day since the death of Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi.

"The future of the region hinges on the developments of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he added, calling on Iranian people to elect "the right president" in the Friday's election.

The "Resistance" refers to the alliance of armed militant groups sponsored by Iran, including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Houthis in Yemen, and Iraqi Shiite militias.

Established in 1982 by Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), Hezbollah is the cornerstone of the Tehran-backed alliance hostile to Israel and the United States.

In his Thursday speech, Nasrallah also offered condolences to Raisi's family, praising Tehran's response to the chopper crash that killed him last month.

Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian died in a helicopter crash on May 19. Both Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian were considered the "driving force" behind what proxy leaders describe as "the achievements of the Resistance Front", including the October 7 attack on Israel or the Iraqi militants' attacks on American interests.

However, the Islamic Republic's policy of supporting its regional armed proxies is not controlled by the Executive Branch of the government and is expected to remain unchanged regardless of who becomes the president.