Hezbollah chief hails US-Iran interim agreement as ‘big victory’

Published June 17, 2026 Updated June 17, 2026 11:51pm

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem says that the memorandum of understanding reached between Iran and the US is a “big victory”, according to Al Jazeera.

“We congratulate the Iranian people, leadership and those who support freedom on this big victory, and we thank the Islamic Republic for linking the Lebanon front — the resistance, which has sacrificed a lot — and forcing Israel to stop its aggression,” Qassem says in a televised address.

“The goal was to bring down the Iranian regime, but the might of American tyranny was broken, and Washington’s colonialist project for Iran failed,” he adds. “The goal of bringing down the Iranian regime and destroying the dignified life of revolutionary Iran failed, and the direction shifted.”

Qassem also says that Lebanon’s negotiations with Israel should be limited to “mutual security”, adding that the country’s main demand should be restoring its sovereignty.

“The ceiling for the negotiations with the Israeli enemy is mutual security … and any proposal under the banner of disarmament will not pass, as this is an Israeli recipe for taking everything and wrecking the country,” he stresses.

“Everything linked to organising our domestic situation, whether the issue of weapons or the economy, or the national security strategy or defence strategy … it all must be completely outside the negotiations,” he adds.

“This we discuss internally. Therefore, in any negotiation, the main demand must be Lebanon’s sovereignty,” says Qassem.

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