The Cradle, November 17, 2023 —Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Commander, General Esmail Qaani, issued a letter addressed to the commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza, Mohammed Deif, on 16 November, vowing that Tehran will “do everything necessary” to support the Palestinian resistance.
“You have scripted a great epic titled ‘The Flood of Al-Aqsa.’ The Almighty has granted this achievement to the fighters of the Qassam Brigades and other resistance fighters in Gaza,” the letter expounds before highlighting that the Palestinians exposed “the weakness and fragility of the oppressive Zionist entity, proving practically and decisively that this entity is weaker than a spider’s web.”
“In conclusion, we affirm the covenant, the commitment, and the fraternal and religious bond that unites us. Rest assured that we will do everything necessary in this historic battle within our ongoing protection and effective support for the resistance,” Qaani stresses.
The words of support by the Quds Force commander coincided with an interview by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in which he revealed that Iran and the US have been holding back-channel communications in an attempt to stop the escalation of the war.
“Over the past 40 days, messages have been exchanged between Iran and the US via the US interests’ section at the Swiss embassy in Tehran,” Amir-Abdollahian told the British daily. Iran does not want the war to spread, but due to the approach adopted by the US and Israel in the region, if the crimes against the people of Gaza and the West Bank are not stopped, any possibility could be considered, and a wider conflict could prove inevitable.”
Iran’s top diplomat continued to say that the Islamic Republic sees US warships deployed to the region not as a threat but essentially as sitting ducks, saying their presence makes them vulnerable.
He also highlighted that the Palestinian resistance, not Israel, will determine the end of the war.
“It is now the time for a face-to-face confrontation between the Palestinian resistance groups and Israeli forces. This is what the resistance groups have been waiting for for weeks […] I can say clearly, considering the knowledge we have and following meetings with leaders in the region, that the fate of this war will be determined by resistance groups, not Israel,” Amir-Abdollahian stressed.