'In Tehran airport, there are huge pictures of Nasrallah'

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00:00Thank you very much, Gavin, for having me.

00:03Yes.

00:04Today, actually, the vice president of Iran for Strategic Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif,

00:09who's known to the West for being the foreign minister during the JCPOA negotiations, he

00:14visited the Hezbollah's bureau in Tehran, and he gave a press interview saying that

00:19Iran's response to Nasrallah's killing will come at a time and place of Iran's choosing,

00:26but it will be determined by the senior-level officials, including and not limited to the

00:31supreme leader.

00:34Aside from Zarif, there was one senior member of the Iranian political circle who visited

00:40the Hezbollah bureau in Tehran and talked to Abdullah Safiyyeddin, the Hezbollah representative

00:45in Tehran, and that was IRGC Quds Force Commander Ismail Kani.

00:49With that appearance, Kani puts an end to all the speculation surrounding him being

00:54in Beirut while the strike happened and being one of the casualties of that strike.

00:59A couple of hardline MPs also are saying that they are planning to review Iran's response

01:07to Nasrallah's assassination, and they won't let the government negotiate with the West

01:11and let this go on, go by.

01:13But I don't think they have much say in that.

01:16I'm really interested in what the dynamic is at the moment between Hezbollah and Iran.

01:22I want you to take us from the old to the new.

01:25I've seen lots of Middle Eastern reportage today talking about Nasrallah being one of

01:30the most powerful figures in what Tehran called the axis of resistance, perhaps bigger, according

01:35to Newsline magazine, than Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander

01:43who was killed.

01:45What's your take on that as to where he's seen as a figure and how big a blow this is

01:49to Iran?

01:51Well, this was certainly a big blow to Iran.

01:56As you walk the highways and streets of Tehran, there are banners of Nasrallah saying that

02:00Hezbollah is still alive and will survive.

02:05And I came back from where I was yesterday, and in the Tehran airport, in the Imam Khomeini

02:11airport of Tehran, there are huge pictures of Nasrallah.

02:16That indicates a major blow.

02:18And five days of public mourning indicates that Iran has actually suffered a very heavy

02:24blow in that regard.

02:26But the Iranian officials keep saying that channels of communication between Iran and

02:30Hezbollah are open.

02:32And with Hashim Safieddin being next in line, Safieddin has stronger ties with Iran than

02:38some people say, than Nasrallah.

02:41I don't personally believe that this is true, but there is no denying that Safieddin will

02:47have a very strong impact.

02:49This is very interesting.

02:50Very briefly, Said, I just want to pick up on that.

02:52You talk about Hashim Safieddin.

02:53Am I right to say that potentially the successor who looks very similar to Hassan Nasrallah

02:59is a little bit younger, talks like him.

03:01Many analysts say he has even the same kind of speech.

03:03He can't pronounce his R's properly, but he's also, he's a cousin.

03:07His son is married to the daughter of Qasem Soleimani, the former assassinated head of

03:13the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

03:15Is that right?

03:16Yes, that's true.

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