Benjamin Netanyahu must have been the most attentive observer – watching in frustration, helplessness, and defeat – as the world witnessed the largest, longest, and most meticulously organised funeral procession for the martyred Imam Ali Khamenei. The assassination that Netanyahu had reportedly boasted about ultimately produced the exact opposite of its intended outcome. Rather than weakening Iran, the Israeli-American war left the Iranian system stronger and more resilient.
The appearance of Iran’s senior leadership at the head of the funeral procession on the first day, in an open public space beneath skies free of aircraft and streets devoid of tanks, armoured vehicles, or missile launchers, is presented as evidence contradicting President Donald Trump’s claim that he had guaranteed the security of the funeral and prevented Israel from carrying out assassinations targeting key Iranian figures, particularly Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of Parliament, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who were leading Iran’s negotiations.
The public appearance of General Ahmad Vahidi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, at the forefront of the mourners for the first time further suggests that the decision was entirely Iranian. Iranian officials have repeatedly declared that they place no trust whatsoever in the United States, and, in their view, they possess ample practical and battlefield evidence to justify that position. Any attack on such a massive funeral gathering by Israel or the US would have carried enormous political, military, and economic costs and could have drawn the world into a Third World War with unpredictable consequences.
For this reason, he is inclined to believe the denial issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office regarding a report published by The New York Times, which claimed that President Trump feared Israel might assassinate Iranian negotiators Ghalibaf and Araghchi and therefore warned Israel against taking such action because of its possible impact on US-Israeli relations.
The reality that should not be ignored is that today’s Israel is not the Israel of yesterday. It is described as frightened and defeated, having seen all of its plans fail against Iran’s steadfastness and resistance.
The same Israel which once viewed incursions into Lebanon and largescale air attacks against Iran as relatively easy operations can no longer strike Beirut’s southern suburbs with even a single missile, knowing that any such attack would immediately provoke a largescale response involving hundreds of precision missiles and advanced drones targeting Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Dimona.
The transformation now unfolding across the region represents a fundamental shift in the balance of power throughout what he calls West Asia rather than the Middle East, a term he dismisses as colonial. He attributes this strategic change primarily to two leaders and the teams surrounding them.
The first is the late Imam Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution. It credits him with combining political, military, executive, and religious leadership, advancing Iran’s nuclear capabilities to the threshold of nuclear weapons status while maintaining a stockpile of 460 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, and transforming Iran into a major missile and drone power. Hewas one of the strongest supporters of the Palestinian cause, providing political backing, weapons, and resources to Palestinian resistance groups while promoting the ‘unity of the battlefronts’. Khamenei firmly believed that the US and Israel represented the greatest threat facing the Muslim world.
The second figure is Yahya Sinwar and his associates, masterminds behind the October 7, 2023 attack, known as Al-Aqsa Flood. The operation was one that shattered Israel’s sense of security, breached its heavily fortified borders equipped with surveillance cameras and electronic barriers, and constituted one of the greatest intelligence and military breakthroughs in the region’s history, comparing it only to the Egyptian army’s crossing of the Bar Lev Line during the October 1973 war.
[by Abdel Bari Atwan in Rai Alyoum]
Compiled and translated by Faizul Haque