The new government of Syria has decided in recent days to prevent all Iranian planes - including civilian ones - from flying over Syrian skies, Israeli news website Walla reported on Sunday.
"The rebels' decision will make it very difficult for Hezbollah to restore its military capabilities," the report said.
Syria's de facto new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a recent interview that Iran’s influence in the region has been significantly diminished by its ally President Bashar al-Assad's fall.
Sharaa, whose radical Sunni Islamist group Hayat al-Tahrir Sham (HTS) swiftly defeated Assad's forces earlier this month, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Syria's opposition had “set the Iranian project in the region back by 40 years,” signaling a major shift in Syria’s stance toward Iran.
“By removing Iranian militias and closing Syria to Iranian influence, we’ve served the region’s interests—achieving what diplomacy and external pressure could not, with minimal losses.”
Under Assad, Iran used Syria to smuggle weapons and other military equipment to Lebanon's Hezbollah. However, Hezbollah's new secretary general Naim Qassem admitted last week that the Lebanese armed group had lost its supply route through Syria.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei denied that Iran uses proxy forces in the region, asserting that groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis act independently out of their own faith and beliefs, not as agents of the Islamic Republic.
In a meeting with religious eulogizers on Sunday, Khamenei addressed what he described as "absurd statements from Western and Israeli officials," dismissing the notion that Iran’s regional influence is based on the use of proxy forces.
"They constantly say that the Islamic Republic has lost its proxy forces in the region! This is another mistake! The Islamic Republic does not have proxy forces. Yemen fights because of its faith; Hezbollah fights because its faith gives it strength to fight; Hamas and Jihad fight because their beliefs compel them to do so," Khamenei said.
"They do not act as our proxies. If one day we want to take action, we will not need any proxy forces."
Khamenei's comments come amid ongoing tensions surrounding Iran’s involvement in regional conflicts, particularly in Syria, where Tehran used militias for many years to further its geopolitical interests but to no avail.
Iran has labeled the Lebanese Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis, the Assad government and a hodgepodge of paramilitary groups in Iraq as the "Resistance Front," and began to speak more directly of a united front since the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023. In September, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, “The government’s policy is to provide unlimited support to the resistance. We will support the resistance front, which has established itself as a reality in the region. The regime [Israel] has so far failed to achieve its main goal of destroying Hamas.”
The commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, said in May, that Iran has humiliated Israel by organizing the 'Islamic resistance.' “At this point, Israel has reached a level of humiliation that it has surrounded itself with barbed wire and radars to prevent infiltration,” Qaani told a gathering of young clerics.
Iran’s involvement in Syria has been one of its most significant and costly regional ventures. The Islamic Republic invested between $30 and $50 billion in financial and military support to sustain the government of Bashar al-Assad who was overthrown by the armed groups and fled to Russia this month.
Iran's aid included sending elite military units, weapons, and advisers to help counter rebel factions. This support was not only about military might but also tied to Tehran's strategic interests, particularly maintaining influence in the Levant and ensuring the continuity of the Axis of Resistance — a network of allies in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen.
Khamenei also warned that those within Iran who align themselves with foreign powers, particularly the United States, would face severe consequences.
"The fools smell the scent of kebab," Khamenei quipped, using a metaphor to describe what he sees as misguided ambitions from those in Iran seeking to overthrow the Islamic Republic. "Anyone inside the country who chooses to serve the Americans, the Iranian people will trample them underfoot."
Syria’s future: Khamenei’s optimism amid setbacks
Turning to Syria, Khamenei expressed confidence in the resilience of the Syrian people, despite the fall of his long-time ally Bashar al-Assad. He predicted that a group would rise to lead Syria out of its instability.
"The young Syrian has nothing to lose. His university is unsafe, his school is unsafe, his home is unsafe, his street is unsafe, his life is unsafe. What should he do? He must stand strong and determined against those who designed this insecurity and those who implemented it, and God willing, he will triumph over them," Khamenei said.
Despite the dire picture painted by Khamenei, there have been no reports of major incidents in Syria since the current leadership took control in Damascus, except tensions between Turkish-back forces and Kurds in the north.
Despite Iran’s immense efforts to secure Assad’s government, the situation in Syria remains precarious after his fall with the rise to power of armed groups who say are going to establish a democratic government in Syria.
Iran has faced significant setbacks in recent years, not only in Syria but also through its proxy networks. Groups like Hamas and Hezbollah have faced challenges, and the broader Middle East continues to see shifting alliances and power dynamics.
Despite these challenges, Khamenei expressed optimism for the future of Syria and the region, saying, "The future of the region will be better than today, by the grace of God."
Khamenei's remarks come at a pivotal moment for Iran, as the country faces mounting pressure from both regional and global powers, particularly the United States and Israel. His speech reflects Tehran's continued defiance of foreign influence, especially in Syria.
A newspaper linked with Iran’s Parliament Speaker has slammed what it called “super-revolutionaries" or ultra-hardliners for publicly opposing “official and revolutionary institutions.”
“The recent statements of [Sadegh] Koushki, [Mehdi] Ghazanfari, and [Foad] Izadi can be seen as the emergence and expression of a tendency in the right-wing that poses a radical reading of revolutionism against revolutionary rationality and official and revolutionary institutions,” Sobh-e No (New Dawn), a daily linked to Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf wrote Monday.
The statements referred to by Sobh-e No were mainly focused on foreign policy including Israel’s attacks on Iran's allies in the region, ultra-hardliners’ demand to sack Mohammad-Javad Zarif, the vice-president for strategic affairs, and the implementation of a new hijab law that President Masoud Pezeshkian's administration insists cannot be implemented amid nationwide and global backlash.
The newspaper dedicated a large part of its front page to a photo montage of the three ultra-hardliners’ images with the headline “Super Revolutionism’s Leap to Deviate Revolutionism”.
“The statements Kuskhi, Izadi, and Ghazanfari have made in recent days can be taken as the manifesto of super revolutionism,” Sobh-e No wrote.
On social media on December 10, Koushki alleged that Pezeshkian’s government is bending to foreign demands.
“Next, with completion of negotiations with the US and Europeans, the [government] will surrender [the Islamic Republic’s] missile capabilities and the rest of the Resistance Axis to the enemy, [this is the] like entering Damascus and the finalization of their mission,” he wrote.
The so-called “super revolutionaries” that Sobh-e No has referred to in its editorial have strong links to the Paydari (Steadfastness) Party and Jebhe-ye Sobh-e Iran (MASAF), which was established less than a year ago. They often refer to themselves as 'arzeshi' or guardians of the Islamic Republic's values.
Both groups have very close ties to the ultra-hardliner former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili who lost the recent presidential elections, and cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Mehdi Mirbagheri who is known for having a radical interpretation of Sharia law, with pro-Russia, pro-China political tendencies.
Members of the Paydari Party and MASAF and their supporters are not only intensely critical of President Masoud Pezeshkian and his government but also often attack Ghalibaf and his supporters, too.
Arzeshi groups have been campaigning on social media for “True Promise 3”, a retaliation for Israel’s 26 October attack on multiple locations in Iran, and accusing authorities of negligence of their promise not to leave it unanswered.
Around 50 vigilantes linked with these groups staged a protest in Tehran Sunday demanding that authorities take military action against Israel. “We order the authorities to raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground. If you don’t attack, we, the people who voted for you, will get rid of you,” the speaker of the rally declared.
Since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in Syria, arzeshi groups have been venting their frustrations against the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force commander, Esmail Qaani, in closed groups such as the homegrown Eitaa cast platform and on Telegram.
In a post on X earlier this week, Mohammad Marandi, an advisor to Iran’s nuclear negotiating team during the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi, who also has close ties with the ‘arzeshi’ groups, said Qatar should be bombed if the US targeted Iran's nuclear facilities.
Marandi is a frequent voice in international media defending Tehran’s policies as well as in the state-run television currently controlled by ultra-hardliners.
He wrote: "Slight problem. The US Al Udeid air base in is tiny Qatar. In case of aggression, the natural gas facilities and infrastructure in Qatar will be totally destroyed. Hence, there will be no natural gas from Doha. Hence, there will be no Qatar. Things won’t end there either…”
A missile launched by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group struck a public park in southern Tel Aviv overnight Friday after Israeli air defenses failed to intercept it.
The impact of the ballistic missile caused sirens to sound across central Israel at 3:44 a.m., sending millions of residents rushing to shelters. This was the second such attack on Tel Aviv since Thursday.
The explosion injured 16 people, mostly with minor injuries from shattered glass, including a three-year-old girl. Another 14 individuals sustained bruises while rushing to shelter. Footage from the site revealed a crater in the park caused by the missile.
The Israeli military confirmed that the missile originated in Yemen, acknowledging that attempted interceptions were unsuccessful. It was the second such incident within days. On Thursday, a Houthi missile partially intercepted outside Israeli airspace crashed into an empty school building in Ramat Gan, causing significant damage but no injuries. Earlier that week, another missile triggered alarms across the country.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that they had targeted a "military site" in the Jaffa area in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli police also reported receiving alerts of a fallen missile in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa region.
Israel blamed Iran on Thursday and launched waves of fighter bombers to hit Houthi military and economic targets.
This latest strike follows Israeli airstrikes on Thursday targeting ports and energy infrastructure in Houthi-controlled Yemen. The Israeli military has warned of further attacks on the group, which has increasingly launched missiles and drones toward Israel amid the ongoing Gaza conflict.
The US Justice Department on Friday charged a captain in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with killing an American in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in 2022.
The murder and terrorism offenses against Mohammad Reza Nouri, 36, relate to the shooting death of Stephen Troell, 45, who worked at an English language institute in Iraq.
Troell was gunned down in Baghdad on Nov. 7 2022 while driving and accompanied by his wife. His last post on X was a selfie of the couple in Baghdad published June 11, 2018. "How much we loved visiting Baghdad!!! Iraq's treasure is its people," he wrote.
The complaint unsealed in a Manhattan federal court alleged the murder was Iran's retaliation for the killing of top IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.
"The Department of Justice will not tolerate terrorists and authoritarian regimes targeting and murdering Americans anywhere in the world," said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement.
"Stephen should still be alive today, and the Justice Department will work relentlessly to ensure accountability for his murder." he added.
Nouri is serving a life sentence in Iraq along with four Iraqis after being convicted there of Troell's murder. He had a played a key role in the targeting and killing of Troell, the complaint reads, including gathering information on Troell and his family.
Nouri is also alleged to have helped procure firearms and a vehicle for the operation. He believed Troell was an American or Israeli intelligence officer, according to the criminal complaint.
Minutes after the attack, he sent an encrypted message to another man involved. "The guys are fine?" he allegedly wrote.
Iranian officials have been offering conflicting rationales for Iran's hasty exit from Syria as establishment voices begin to come to terms with one of the Islamic Republic's biggest ever strategic setbacks.
Defenders of official policy even went as far as slamming Iran's top great power ally Vladimir Putin for saying 4,000 Iranian troops needed a Russian airlift to depart.
"Liar," government-controlled media Nameh News branded the Russian President.
A senior military figure protested that those airlifted to Tehran were not Iranian or were not military personnel. Still others have defended Iran's support for and defense of Assad and at least one has denied Iran's military presence in Assad's Syria altogether.
Ali Akbar Ahmadian the Secretary of the Islamic Republic's Supreme Council of National Security insisted that Iranian troops were present only as military advisers.
The statement is contrary to copious Iranian state TV footage in the past that showed Iranian IRGC forces engaged in combat in Syria.
"Iran's military presence outside the country is based on Tehran's national interests, non-intervention in the internal affairs of the host countries," Ahmadian added. "Iran never starts an invasion."
Iranian and Russia forces participated in large-scale assaults and air strikes against population centers, including Syria’s second largest city, Aleppo during the civil war.
The conflict involved government forces opposed by religious and secular opposition fighters. Assad was ultimately toppled by a rebel coalition spearheaded by a radical Islamist group that was once an Al Qaeda affiliate.
Ahmadian made a rare concession about the true nature of Iran's erstwhile ally, however.
"Part of Assad's political system showed a detestable behavior against the people of that country and that brought about a divide between the Syrian government and people."
Ebrahim Rezaei the spokesperson for the Iranian parliament's National Security Committee told the press that "Assad's regime would have fallen much earlier if it were not for our resistance."
"Iran's presence in Syria was aimed at protecting the axis of resistance rather than Assad as an individual," he added."We fought terrorists such as ISIS and some of our men were killed in action in Syria."
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) General Esmail Kowsari, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security Committee said Tehran did not station so many troops in Syria to have needed a massive Russian airlift.
"Iran never had 4,000 troops in Syria. Those who were evacuated were Lebanese and Afghan military advisers as well as individuals from some other countries."
Iran organized Afghan, Pakistani and Iraqi militiamen to fight alongside Assads forces for a decade.
The Afghan fighters receive citizenship or residency in Iran and were buried there with honors when they were killed in Syria.
"The reason we did not evacuate them earlier was that we expected the Syrian army to show some resistance. But neither the army nor Bashar Assad did so," Kowsari added. "We even told Iranian teachers in Syria to return to Iran via Lebanon."
Iran's clerical establishment also sought to blame Assad's forces.
Hashem Hosseini Bushehri the Friday Prayers Imam of Qom and a member of the Assembly of Experts also said in one of his sermons: "Neither Bashar nor the Syrian army had any motivation to fight, and Iran was not able to do anything under the circumstances as Syria's ground and air borders were closed."
Iran had warned Assad, he said, that fighters were being trained in Idlib but Tehran's counsels fell on deaf ears.