Iran says Israeli attacks on nuclear facilities threaten regional stability

“Dear friends, who else attacked your country besides Israel?" Larijani told reporters in Beirut on Wednesday. So be careful that Israel does not impose something else on you through other means."

"Do not let it use other forms of pressure to force on you what it could not achieve through war. Do not mistake friend for enemy; resistance is your national asset,” he added.

Larijani said that Iras no intention in interfering in the affairs of Lebanon.

His remarks come a week after the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise plans by the end of the year to disarm the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, prompting sharp criticism from Tehran.

Tense rhetoric

Ali-Akbar Velayati, senior foreign policy adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, called the disarmament “a dream that won’t come true,” describing it as a policy dictated by Israel and Washington.

“Whatever conclusion it (the Lebanese government) reaches, we will also accept. Those who interfere in Lebanon’s affairs are the ones who give you plans, set timelines for actions, and come from thousands of kilometres away. We have not given you any plans,” he added.

Lebanon’s foreign ministry condemned the comments on X as “a flagrant and unacceptable interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs.”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun also criticized remarks by Iranian officials, stressing that no group has the right to bear arms or seek foreign support.

“It is forbidden for anyone to bear arms and to use foreign backing as leverage,” Aoun told Larijani during their meeting, according to a statement from the president’s office posted on X.

In just three weeks, Larijani has traversed the highest corridors of Moscow, Baghdad, and Beirut.

The veteran conservative met Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Moscow late July. This week, met Iraqi leaders, laid a wreath at the site of Qassem Soleimani’s killing, and visited Lebanon amid a push to disarm Tehran-allied Hezbollah.

Once sidelined from presidential politics, the former parliament speaker and IRGC founding member is now back at the centre of power—chairing the new Defence Council and is dispatched abroad to steady alliances and project resilience at a moment of regional strain and looming succession.

The itinerary reflects his rebirth: Moscow for geopolitical depth, Baghdad to reinforce Iran-aligned proxies, Beirut to guard influence amid Western-backed disarmament moves.

Syria lies outside the traditional axis: Assad has fallen, Jolani governs Damascus and IRGC forces have withdrawn, yet some Iranian influence endures through discreet networks and shadow intermediaries.

War mode reloaded

Larijani’s revival is no accident but a deliberate restoration of wartime instincts.

During the Iran–Iraq War, real power shifted from Khamenei’s ceremonial presidency to Majlis Speaker Rafsanjani, the acting Deputy Commander-in-Chief.

The slight was deeply felt by Khamenei, who spent much of his second presidential term at the front, forging bonds with commanders like Soleimani—ties that became the backbone of the Beyt-e Rahbari after he became Supreme Leader in 1989.

Khamenei disappeared from public view during Israeli strikes on Iran in June. The so-called 12-day war, in which many of his key protégés were killed, reinforced Khamenei’s long-held belief in relying on loyal men willing to risk all to preserve him.

That’s where Larijani enters the picture.

Unqualified no more

A former chief nuclear negotiator, he was deemed unfit to run for the presidency as late as 2024. Now, he has been placed at the helm of the Defence Council, positioned as both succession strategist and potential wartime coordinator.

Precedent underpins this orchestration.

In 2011, Ahmadinejad’s 11-day disappearance during a succession standoff left a vacuum between the presidency and the Leader’s office.

As speaker and a member of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Larijani navigated the crisis amid speculation that IRGC-linked governance was filling the gap.

Today, Khamenei is again turning to the tools that preserved the theocracy in its formative years: centralised command, crisis-tested operatives, and the fusion of media, military, and diplomacy.Beirut’s standoff illustrates the stakes.

Lebanon test case

The US plan to disarm Hezbollah—paired with Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction aid—has exposed Lebanon’s political fault lines.

On the eve of Larijani’s arrival, Hezbollah denounced the plan as a “grave sin” and rejected it in cabinet, while the Lebanese army was tasked with drafting legislation to give the state a monopoly on arms.

Former President Michel Aoun and others have called for “arms under state authority” through dialogue, while Hezbollah insists on Israeli withdrawal first, warning it will resist any state compulsion.

Amid these fractures, Larijani’s mission is not the defence of state sovereignty but the calculus of regime survival—Khamenei’s answer from the past to a future laden with uncertainty.

Larijani is not simply a returning statesman but a recycled instrument from the Islamic Republic’s most turbulent chapters, tasked now with holding the line until the next hand—willing or not—seizes the tiller.

Sharing a report from The Gateway Pundit on Truth Social Wednesday, the president cited claims that at least $9.6 billion in illicit payments were cleared through the branch to names on the US Treasury’s sanctions list, including designated terrorist organizations.

The allegations, first published on July 22 and updated with new material from bank insiders, center on transactions said to involve Euro African Group Ltd—controlled by Hezbollah financier Mohammad Bazzi—alongside Koussani Steel, Kuwait Automotive Group, Bank of Algeria, Iranian oil trading intermediaries, and other sanctioned entities.

“With all oil trade required to be in US dollar currency, China is using SCB and its NYC branch to buy Iranian oil in US dollars,” the story reads.

The Trump administration has imposed a sweeping sanctions campaign on Iran aimed at curbing its oil sales network, while tightening enforcement measures to cut off Tehran’s access to the US financial system and global banking channels.

In June, however, Trump announced on social media that China could now buy Iranian oil — a shift from his previous hardline stance.

China remains the only major buyer of Iranian crude, taking in the vast majority of Tehran’s exports. Despite years of sanctions and stepped-up enforcement, the flow of oil to Chinese refiners has not been halted, with shipments often routed through intermediaries or mislabeled to disguise their origin.

According to The Gateway Pundit, the case is supported by 40,000 internal emails containing foreign exchange trade records.

The report alleges that senior officials, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, were briefed on the matter in early 2024 but took no action.

Trump, in his post, called James “a disgrace” but offered no further details on what action he believed should follow.

“Western regimes have long claimed that sanctions are a bloodless alternative to war,” Abbas Araghchi wrote on social media platform X. “Reality check: New study by The Lancet says unilateral sanctions, particularly by the US, may be as lethal as war. 500+k lives claimed annually since 1970s, mostly children and the elderly.”

Araghchi called for international recognition of sanctions as crimes against humanity and urged targeted countries to unite against them.

“It is high time for inhumane sanctions imposed by the US and its accomplices to be recognized as crimes against humanity,” he said. “Targeted nations should coordinate efforts to forge unified and collective response.”

The remarks come as Iran faces the potential reimposition of United Nations sanctions under the “snapback” mechanism of the 2015 nuclear deal, with European powers warning of action if Tehran does not return to talks by the end of August.

“Iran’s defiance of this Council’s resolutions enables the Houthis to escalate regional tensions. Iran’s continued support for the Houthis also poses a threat to the people of Yemen and to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea,” she told the council.

“In that regard, the United States commends Yemeni government-aligned forces for their July seizure of at least 750 tons of Iranian weapons bound for the Houthis. We urge the UN Secretariat to facilitate an inspection of that seizure by the Yemen Panel of Experts as soon as possible.”

The Iran-backed group, which controls around two thirds of Yemen's population in one third of the country, began a maritime blockade in the Red Sea in November 2023, following a call by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a show of allegiance to Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.

The Council on Foreign Relations says that "Iran is the Houthis’ primary benefactor, providing them mostly with security assistance, such as weapons transfers, training, and intelligence support".

Following Hamas’ invasion of Israel on October 7 and the subsequent retaliatory bombardment of the Gaza Strip, the group said it would target Israeli-linked vessels and those docking in Israeli ports. It has since, however, targeted several commercial ships, killing multiple civilian mariners.

So frequent were the attacks on US warships that a ceasefire was made between the US and the group, designated a terrorist entity by countries such as the US and Canada, in May.

In recent attacks on the Magic Seas and Eternity C, both ships were destroyed, with at least four seamen killed on Eternity C and several others injured, taking the tally to over 100 ships attacked since the blockade began.

“After hampering rescue efforts, the Houthis then kidnapped and continue to detain at least 11 crew members of the Eternity C, adding to the numbers they have unjustifiably detained,” Shea said, calling for the hostages’ release along with the release of other UN, NGO and diplomatic workers being held by the group.

“The attacks on commercial vessels are a clear demonstration of the Houthis’ destabilizing presence in the region and interference with freedom of navigation. They also demonstrate Houthi responsibility for severe economic, environmental, and security threats against the people of Yemen and the region,” she said.

Retaliatory strikes by Israel, the US, and the UK since the beginning of the blockade have caused significant damage to infrastructure, including ports the allies say were used to transfer weapons from Iran.

In the Tuesday address, Shea also spoke out about the group’s targeting of Israel, a key US ally in the region, saying that the Jewish state retained the right to defend itself.

“As recently as August 8th, the Houthis fired a missile at Israel targeting Ben Gurion Airport. We stand with Israel in its right to self-defense against the Houthis,” she said.

Dozens of projectiles have been fired at Israel during the maritime blockade, including ballistic missiles and UAVs. While most have been intercepted, in May, one narrowly missed the perimeter of the country's main airport, Ben Gurion, in central Israel.