a dangerous attack on lebanon sovereignty, warning that the israeli crime will not go unanswered. iran has also condemned the attack in the strongest terms. crisis devastating wars, terrorism, the israeli lobby, crackdown. diplomacy: resistance is alive. make sure to join the show through facebook, twitter, only on press tv.

hello, welcome to the debate. i'm. in iran, people have marked the fourth assassination anniversary of the anti-terror commander, lieutenant general qasim sulaymani. and while this honorable event was taking place, horrible terrorist incident has occurred here in the islamic republic, claiming the lives of many iranians were paying homige to him. why did this terrorist incident take place at this time? was it to use iran's interior minister words detract iranians love and honor for the anti-terror icon, qasim sulaymani. also, in terms of this incident, terrorist incident, was it to use means to detract from the way that iranians were paying respect to him? in this addition of the spotlight, we will look at the legacy of this prominent figure in iran's history, which revitalized the axis of resistance in the region a base. for the courageous fight

the resistance fighters are waiting against the israeli regime forces in the gaza strip, and this is while iran's president has said that the resistance groups will make israel pay heavy price for its terrorist act. first let me introduce our guests for this edition of the spotlight. sayid mohammed marandi, university professor and political analyst joins us from tehran. also joining us to say mustaphash, political analyst. from tehran. welcome to you both. um, my condolences obviously go out on this uh sad occasion that was uh meant to uh uh honor the late lieutenant general sulaymani. but uh obviously an analysis needs to be uh put into the picture and if you could put things into context for us. first i think it's worth remembering uh and i'll start with you said mohammed marandi uh the reasoning that was given back when uh the targeted assassination took place by the us. on uh lieutenant

general suleimani, the former secretary of state mike pompeo saying that uh there was an imminent attacks uh that he had planned uh which we understand obviously is false premise. maybe you can recount to us why that type of thinking went into play uh as the basis for what was said at the time was the assassination of uh haj qasim sulaymani. well, if an imminent attack was about to take place. 'the last place where he would be would be in baghdad, obviously that's nonsense, and we also recall that the iraqi prime minister at that time, he said very specifically that general sulaimani came to iraq to visit me, because he had received a letter from the saudi crown prince, and they wanted to discuss raprosh, so after midnight general sulaimani when he arrived in baghdad from damascus'. he was leaving the airport

with his colleagues and with abu mahdi al-muhandis who was leading the fight against of isis in iraq, the iraqi commander, and he was to meet the prime minister at 8 a.m. if i'm not mistaken, in the morning, hours later, and that's when the americans killed him, and obviously the americans had information about the intention of general sonimani to... meet the prime minister and to discuss the peace and rapproochma with saudi arabia, because the americans are everywhere in iraq, and therefore that's that's all nonsense, the americans wanted revenge because they had been humiliated by the resistance whether in syria where the americans had supported extremist groups, they supported isis, that supported al-qaedade, one example is the email of... from february the 12th 2012 from

of jake sullivan to um hillary clinton who was the secretary of state at that time and jake sullivan who is now the uh national national security advisor of biden, in that email, and you can everyone can find this online, he said al-qaeda is on our side in syria, this is early 2012, and we know that later on isis, which was a part of al-qaeda, broke away from al-qaeda, so they were supporting these extremist groups, the defeat of isis, the defeat of al-qaeda was something that angered the united states, it angered trump. uh both their defeat ins here in iraq and it and the americans were angry that it created a bond, a strong bond between the iranian people and the iraqi people, and they they got their revenge, but in my opinion, the americans miscalculated, because uh, it

mobilized the iranian nation, millions of people came to the streets to commemorate in tehran alone to commemorate the the marturdom of general sulaiman. now uh, this is point that i'd like to take up with you, said mustaphash, uh, the fact that you have uh, i believe uh, one of our guests actually said this, which i'm going to ask you, that uh, this terrorist incident that has now taken place in the islamic republic, um, he said that uh, the us and israel actually fear uh, qasam sulim is death even more, now that he's dead than alive, because the legacy that he left behind, what he stood for in terms of the anti- terror icon is inspiration for for example resistance groups to continue this fight that they're having in terms of the imperialist powers like the us and therefore that aspect of it is what stands out right now do you think that that is uh valid

perspective and what what what this represents in this case? hello and thanks for having me and hello to dr. marandi well that's that's true, actually, um, qassim suleimani was a unique commander um, when he before he they martered him, he had already told friends in force as well as in lebanon, that he had planned of the future of the resistance against the americans and israelies for the next year. to come and that's true uh, it's no secret, everyone knows that the general sulaimani uh, you know, provided logistical backup and everything to the resistant groups including hamas and others all across the region, and i

do believe not much, but all of the things that we see these days is the product of qasim suleymani, and he is even more frightening to the americans and israelies. these days even more than before, the kind of a strategy that he started over 20 years ago, some 20 something years ago, still continues. let's remember that back in 2001, the united states invaded afghanistan, later after a couple of years they invaded iraq, and they were on both sides of iran. 38 original us bases, they all incirculed iran, threatening iran, and it was then the qasim sulaymani started his mobilization paradigm or or formula based on what we had already experienced during the war, iraqi and post war on iran uh in the 1980s and then he embraced success everywhere that he went

after this paradigm and formula in afghanistan, iraq and all across the region, now after 20 years where are the americans uh and those days they were incircling us and we were inside the borders, now our influence and regional uh might and power has admedly expanded to the mediterranean, but where are the americans? they are, they have been fading away in this region, now they have threatened even one of the iranian allies isbullah to step back from engaging in the war in the israeli war against gaza, but they... stayed unintimidated and they uh you know uh uh started uh attacks on uh israel, they also sent their warships to the red sea to threaten the yemeni nation and yemen's army uh but so they failed and as you can see

yemen continues attacks on on you know uh israeli bound ships and they have stayed on the terre so as you can see these are the products, these these groups and allies, they they are products of the efforts made by haj qasim sulaymani, the the respectable market and and marty general and also in response to your question, yes we could still see uhmani in on the scene pretty well and very much clearly. okay, let's look at what has occurred today in terms of the terrorist incident, muhammad marandi, if we were to take a look at the three incidents that have taken place, sayid razi musavi, the irani military advisor in syria. then you have what happened in bayruts um in terms of uh seniormas leader uh sallah aruri and then you

have what's happened today in the islamic republic why do you think this uh occurred of course uh no matter who uh has analyzed this as pointing the finger at israel being behind it but what do you think in terms of the timing of it uh today and after these two uh targeted assassinations i'm sorry we don't have your audio, sorry about that, okay, now we have you, go ahead, the fact that this terror attack today occurred immediately after the terror attack in beirut, and the terror attack in damascus before it makes people think that it was probably the israelis that carried out this operation either alone or with ally like isis. because the israelis and isis cooperated in the dirty war in syria, isis was, they had bases

alongside the golan heights for years, their injured militants were treated in israeli hospitals, whenever the syrian army would try to attack isis, israeli air force and artillery would support isis, so there is a strong relationship between the two, they tried to bring down the syrian government along with. regimes and regional allies of nato to break the resistance and create gap between iran and its friends in gaza, the west bank and lebanon, and they failed, so it is quite possible that the israeli regime was behind this, and the reason obviously would be that the israelis are angry, they've lost the war in gaza, they've lost the... military war in gaza, they've lost their intelligence war in gaza, and they've destroyed their

credibility across the world, and they've destroyed the credibility of the collective west by through this genocide, through this holocaust, so this has been a catastrophic defeat for the regime, so they are angry, but on the other hand, netanyahu wants to expand the war, because if the war and he wants to continue the war, because if the war ends, he will be put on trial and he will probably go to jail, so the longer the war, the better it is for netanyahu, the longer the genocide continues, the better it is for netanyahu's allies as well, so he has incentive to continue the war and also to spread the war, because he's losing, and that is how he can, he can, he hopes that the americans could be brought into the battlefield, which i think is obviously, very detrimental to the interest of the united states, because this is not libya, we're not talking about iraq, a

broken iraq under saddam hussein a sanctioned iraq, we're talking about a network of resistance that goes from the red see to the mediterranean to the hindu kush, it is an enormous uh alliance and the resistance block or the... access and if there's confrontation obviously with iran, it's not a battle that the americans can win because iran could destroy all the facilities in the persian gulf, those countries, if the americans attack iran, all those countries that have military bases, american military bases would be hostile, would be considered as hostile, so their oil and gas installations would be fair gain, and in addition to that, the that would create a global economic. down sure and that would be enormous loss to the united states, so i don't think that the americans,

i have no doubt that the americans don't want the war to be to expand, but netanyahu has vested interest in expanding the conflict. all right, well since you mentioned the vast area that the resistance groups cover, i i think it's only appropriate that i ask you, about what iran's leader has said, you can expand on this further for us, how uhmani was instrumental reviving the resistance front in the region in the areas that i guess are just mentioned, how did was he able to do that? as i said earlier, um, when americans attacked afghanistan and iraq, um, the resistance actually move to second stage when you know qasim sulaymani started mobilizing groups and all across the region, especially in and in a

region when we were uh under threat by the united states actually, and uh... "the other muslim nations were also under threat, they were being threatened, they were invaded by the united states and it was clear that the us wanted to uh, you know, push uh seven countries all across the region into chaos in compliance with its greater middle east plan, so this mobilization that was you know modeled on iran's mobilization during the iraq post war." started and it expanded and it could reak havick on americans everywhere, now it's doing the same to the israelis and americans everywhere, and as dr. marandi said, they know the dire costs of any kind of hostile action against iran, they realized in washington, but though netanyahu is very much

desperate to keep himself in power because he knows the attimates if the war goes on and without expansion uh, even if we don't see a cease fire, many believe now that in about four five months even if the goza war continues, netan yaho will be you know brought down from power and that would be the end of his career, not just that, but also he will be putting put behind bars because of his corruption cases and his failure, now his greatest sin, not his sin, but guilt uh and flaw of the israeli army and security apparatus as well as netanyahuh guilt and and shortcoming is that they uh the the the israeli defense doctrine was shattered in the first six hours that hamas went to went on

attacking them and they lost all the principles. their military doctrine and they found themselves surprised and shattered, so these are all the products, i mean, what hamas did, what isbullah is doing, what the yemen's army is doing, these are all the products of the model of the move that that that that was started by martin suleimani and his efforts and paraly. okay, um, so still trying to figure out the uh reasoning that is... given when it comes to the genocidal war itself marandi, are we looking at israel uh seeing this as an existential threat if they don't succeed there in the gaza strip uh or is it because they're losing there they realize it and therefore they are trying to open up the war in different fronts like i mentioned about the assassination of uh sal

almas leader and say razi musa and of course now what is that? the islamic republic. i think there are two layers here, one is sheer anger and emotions. the israelis are very upset, very angry, they're openly talking about genocide, and they are repeating it day after day. you see mps speaking about genocide, major military commanders, speaking about genocide government ministers, the israely. president spoke of genocide, the prime minister netanyahu, the defense minister, this is the genocidal intent is usually something that even the most evil of regimes hide from the international community, but in the case of israel out of sheer despare and anger, they've been saying it day after day, and this is highly

detrimental because they're admitting to the world what they're doing. but and they are extremely angry towards the iranians because the capabilities of hamas in gaza, the tunnels, the, the what hamas and its allies, the islamic jihad and others have have have been able to help them defeat the israeli regime, so there is an emotional component to this in their terror attacks, whether it's against hamas officials in lebanon or the iranian general in syria or... potentially that, if the israelis were indeed behind it, the terror attack in kerman. the second layer is, as you pointed out, the is have lost the war. "and this, the the aura of israeli invincibility is gone, it it took its first

blow in 2000 when it retreated from lebanon, then the defeat in 2006 was second blow, but this was decisive blow, especially since ansarullah, the yemani armed forces blocked israeli ports in the south, hesgollah drew half of its army to the north and h and its allies were hammering the israeli armed forces in gaza and the israeli regime out of sheer anger and racism and rage was constantly massacring ordinary people, so israel has destroyed its credibility across the globe, it's shown itself to be genocidal, both in language and words, but in also in action, so the israelis are in a very bad situation, they're in a very painful and difficult situation, and they... need or at least netanyahu both for his okay uh selfish interest as mr. khush kish brightly pointed out, but also they need the americans to come

in to save the day, and that is not going to help the israelis and this proves that the israeli regime, not only is it detrimental to the interest of the west, its very existence, but also it shows that the israeli regime is willing sacrifice its western allies for its own selfish interest. that's the key question here then, so what do you think, mustafa k, when is that red line going to be crossed? we're looking at three different incidents now, almost back to back, um, if israel is to continue down this path, are we looking a massive retaliation, uh, what are we looking at, all the resistance fronts, some, iran to be included or not, how do you see this, we're israel to continue down the path that it is, how much time are you going to give me about that? just keep it short, i'm sorry, we're almost reaching the end of the program. okay, so let let me, let me put it in a nutshell. okay, first of all, let me add something to my earlier response that general

sulaimani when he did this mobilization program and planning for the muslim world, for the muslim, the oppressed muslim nations, um, he had, you know, very good principle that he established, uh, he, we, in iran, we never look at these all as proxiposis, that's our difference with others, with the americans and israelies, because they use them as you know, some proxy forces, some terrorists that they hire, but we in iran look at these groups as well as the states like iraq and syria as our allies, the difference comes in this that we do not try to feed them with fish, but we teach them to catch fish, this is... uh difference, different because we look at them as allies, equal allies on equal footing. now, in response to your questions, definitely i

agree with the marandy that this is you know somehow uh masterminded by israel or conducted by israel, and this could have been israel or this could have been some terrorist group like j shazul, official ad or isis um who have been masterm i mean the plot has been masterminded and done by the israel is definitely there is no doubt about that and and i do agree that netanyahu because of his failures uh and this war he wants escalate the tensions to the region he wants to bring in the us and he wants to bring the the nato and but definitely they will receive a response. iran is shown on multiple. cases according to the israelies, whenever they have done something wrong like assassinating, the jerusalem post reported that the father their aerospace program, avihar even was

killed at the heart of israel few months later, when they uh conduct a sabotage attack at nathan's two times, their main ballistic missile factory offer went into the air and experienced explosion when they started attacking... iranian ships, they said that their own ships more than the number, mean greater number became under attack, so there are different ways that iran will definitely provide a response itself and through its allies, definitely this is going to happen, okay, i'm sorry, we just fresh out of time, i do apologize, i do apologize for that, say political all, sorry, we're just fresh out of time, sayid marandi, thank you, university professor and political analyst, both from with that we come to an end for this edition the spotlight from the team, it's goodbye.

the headlines this hour, iran's leader highlights the importance of soft power which he says the country has been relying on over the past four decades. also, people mark the fourth assassination anniversary of the anti-terror commander, and condemnations pour in following israel's assassination of the top hamas official in lebanon.