Head of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc at the Lebanese Parliament MP Mohammad Raad said the continued resilience of Iran in the face of the US-Israeli war has revealed a deep miscalculation in Washington, highlighting a structural gap between American military power and its claimed values.
In an article published in Al-Akhbar, MP Raad argued that former US President Donald Trump reacted with “astonishment, shock, and anger” to Iran’s refusal to surrender despite the heavy losses inflicted during the aggression including the loss of the former Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei and a number of military, security and political commanders, as well as the widespread destruction.
MP Raad said Washington and its allies “could not have imagined” that Iran would continue to resist after strikes targeting senior leadership and key infrastructure, emphasizing that Tehran instead responded with “unwavering confidence and unprecedented popular participation.”
According to the Lebanese lawmaker, this resilience stems from a misreading of the Islamic Republic’s internal structure, noting that the Iranian system is built on “tightly interwoven ideological, organizational, and societal ties” between leadership and the public, who form “the cornerstone” of national sovereignty.
He stressed that “the Iranian people are not merely a population tossed about by politicians,” but rather “an active and serious producer of power,” enabling the state to absorb major blows and maintain cohesion.
MP Raad further argued that US policymakers equate superiority with military dominance, while ignoring legitimacy, saying true power must be grounded in “principles and values of international and humanitarian law.” Without this, he added, any claim to superiority collapses into “bullying and transgression.”
He pointed to US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric, including threats that the whole Iranian civilization would “die”, as evidence that Washington “stripped away the pretense of superiority” and revealed itself as “a force for threatening, demolishing, and destroying.”
The Lebanese lawmaker also drew parallels with developments in the region, stating that both the United States and the Zionist entity were similarly shocked by the ability of resistance forces to recover quickly after leadership losses, including Hezbollah in Lebanon.
MP Raad argued that such resilience contrasts with the “artificial systems,” which would collapse under comparable pressure, asserting that cohesive ideological environments are more capable of sustaining prolonged confrontation.
“What unfolded in Gaza, and what the environment of Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran endured, would have led any artificial state or fragile system to collapse under similar pressure. In such a scenario, white flags would have been raised over buildings and towers. Yet events have taken a different course—one that defies conventional expectations.”
“The steadfastness of Iran and the resilience of the resistance in Lebanon are two illustrative examples of this equation,” he wrote, adding that their experience could inspire similar models elsewhere.
MP Raad concluded that the core failure of US policy lies in “the fundamental imbalance… between power and values,” which, he said, continues to undermine American influence despite its military capabilities.
Source: Al-Akhbar newspaper (translated and edited y Al-Manar)