Two intriguing questions still remain unanswered. Who released the video on the Internet? To my understanding, no one knows. And, given that the speech is about 17 months old, why release it now? Does it have to do with the fact that the United States has announced a $60 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia in the name of “stability of the region,” which is actually meant to deter the Islamic Republic (even though there is no evidence that Iran has any plan to threaten Saudi Arabia)? If there is such a link between the arms sale and the video’s release, then the hypothesis that Nasrallah is trying to help Iran appear less scary to the Arabs makes sense. It might even help make the Saudis look bad for precipitating a massive arms race in an already unstable region.
It is also possible that the video was released by Hezbollah itself to bolster its position in Lebanon’s internal politics. Nasrallah has said repeatedly that Hezbollah obeys the Velaayat-e Faghih (guardianship of the Islamic jurist, represented by the Supreme Leader). In addition, during the recent trip of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Lebanon, the country was seemingly taken over by Farsi/Persian-speaking people and banners. Television stations controlled by both the Amal Organization and Hezbollah broadcast Iranian revolutionary songs. When he met with Ahmadinejad, Nasarallah used Farsi in his greeting. The release of the video at this time may thus be intended to emphasize that, despite all of… >>>
