By: Avi M.
Since the beginning of the fighting in Gaza, in October 2023, many Palestinians have left the Gaza strip. Some of the Palestinians, especially families of the dead and people who needed medical treatment, were flown to Iran.
Throughout the war, the regime in Tehran organized a number of public events, as part of its efforts to show its support for the Palestinians and to increase support for the issue among the population.
It seems that these events were organized against the background of the relatively little support of the population in Iran for the Palestinians in general and Hamas in particular.
One of the prominent events in this context was held near the Milad tower in Tehran at the beginning of July. As part of the event, a display was set up in Tehran, including a replica of the Temple Mount, Gaza ruins and a large model of Qassem Soleimani’s ring.
In addition, senior officials of the Iranian regime spoke throughout the days of the event and even met with Palestinians staying in Iran.
As part of the preparations for the events, and with the aim of increasing public exposure, the regime made sure to distribute flyers and invitations throughout Tehran and on social networks where the public was invited to come and show their support for the Palestinians.
One of the prominent figures who spoke during the events was the commander of the Aerospace Force of the IRGC, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who even met with a number of Palestinians. During the meeting, Haji Zadeh mentioned a number of Iranian activities against the US and Israel in recent years and explicitly threatened Israel.
“…in the past we managed to shoot down the US Global Hawk UAV over the skies of the Persian Gulf in one launch, in the second operation against American targets we attacked the Ain al-Assad base with 13 missiles, in our third operation, called True Promise, (The missile attack on Israel, AM) We launched 300 missiles. Now I and all my comrades in arms aspire and expect that the opportunity will come to implement Operation True Promise 2, where the number of missiles that will be launched will be sublime to my comprehension…”
Later in his speech, he praised Hamas and the Palestinians and said that “…as a military man who has been in uniform for 45 years, and who understands military matters well, I tell you that what is happening now in Palestine…will end in the complete victory of the Palestinian people…”.
However, despite the threats against Israel, Haji Zadeh claimed later in his speech that “… we in Iran are very disgruntled because even though we have the ability (to attack Israel, AM), our hands are tied and we hardly have the appropriate conditions that will allow us to act directly against the Zionist regime…”.
Haji Zadeh concluded his remarks by promising support for the resistance axis in the region, saying that “as proven by the weapons in the hands of the resistance in Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere, the entire resistance axis receives aid and support from Iran. We, as always, will not spare any effort and will do what we can for the resistance and will stand by it until the end of our life… as Khamenei said, the Palestinian people will definitely win. Your resistance is indescribable… Be sure that you are changing the course of world history, we will stand firmly by your side and do everything we can to support Palestine.”
At the end of his speech, Haji Zada also referred to Hezbollah’s activity against Israel. As for the organization’s activities, he said that “…they are independent and know how to act” and later, in response to the question of whether there would still be Iranian support, he replied that “…we have always supported and will continue to support the axis of resistance, this is nothing new.”
One day after the speech was published, all news agencies affiliated with the IRGC took an unusual step by deleting many parts of Hajizadeh’s speech. These parts included his threat to launch numerous missiles at Israel in a future operation and his remarks about Iranian ineffectiveness regarding attacks on Israel. Instead, photos of his meeting with the families of Palestinians and his comments upon leaving the ceremony were published.
The deletion of these parts from the speech is relatively uncommon and may indicate the regime’s discomfort with their content.
One possibility is that the regime feared these statements would be seen as a promise or commitment to the Palestinians. Another, equally plausible, possibility is that Hajizadeh’s remarks were perceived as criticism of the Supreme Leader, who does not allow direct action against Israel.
