Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, said the US faced a “humiliating situation” across the Middle East, citing Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
On Iraq, he claimed Washington had been forced out with its capabilities. He presented that outcome as evidence of declining American influence.
Meanwhile, Qaani maintained that Hezbollah had held its ground in Lebanon. He rejected what he described as US and Israeli assertions that the group had been eliminated.
More broadly, he portrayed groups aligned with Iran as increasingly united in their opposition to American and Israeli actions. Each part of that regional front, he argued, had surprised its opponents through calculated moves.
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The Resistance Front, Qaani concluded, continues its path with honour and pride, inspired by the blood of its martyrs and the course set by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine.
Qaani also claimed Washington had expected to force Iran to surrender within two weeks. Instead, he said, the US had encountered circumstances that differed from its expectations.
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Qaani described the US regional position as humiliating, claiming Washington had withdrawn from Iraq while Hezbollah remained resilient.
On Wednesday, the US military completed its withdrawal from Iraq, with the last troops leaving a base in Erbil under an agreement between Baghdad and Washington to end the US-led military occupation.
