Mojtaba backs Hezbollah, calls for jihad

Tehran: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei reaffirmed Iran’s support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah, saying there is “no path forward except jihad and resistance” against the US and Israel.

In a message on X to Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, Mojtaba described defending Hezbollah as Iran’s “strategic mandate” and called for an unconditional end to Israeli military operations in Leban­on before any pact  to end Iran’s conflict with the US.

The message came in response to Hezbollah pledging allegiance to Iran. “Today... there remains no path forward except jihad and resistance,” he wrote, accusing the US and “criminal Zionists” of tyranny and oppression. Mojtaba hailed Hezbollah as an “unyielding rock” against Israel, saying its resistance had inspired those seeking “liberation from global arrogance”. Echoing his father Ali Khamenei’s policy, he said support for Hezbollah remai­ned a strategic priority.