TEHRAN, Dec 22, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Iran's supreme leader denied Sunday that
militant groups around the region functioned as Tehran's proxies, warning
that if his country chose to "take action", it would not need them anyway.

The remarks came after a year in which Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and
Hamas in Gaza suffered heavy losses in wars with Israel, and two weeks after
the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who had been a key link in
Tehran's so-called axis of resistance.

Another spoke of that axis, Yemen's Huthi rebels, have been repeatedly
targeted by the United States and Britain over their attacks on Red Sea
shipping lanes, launched in solidarity with Palestinians.

"The Islamic Republic does not have a proxy force. Yemen fights because it
has faith. Hezbollah fights because the power of faith draws it into the
field. Hamas and (the Islamic) Jihad fight because their beliefs compel them
to do so. They do not act as our proxy," supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei told a group of visitors in Tehran.

"They (the Americans) keep saying that the Islamic Republic has lost its
proxy forces in the region! This is another mistake," he said, adding: "If
one day we want to take action, we do not need a proxy force."

Earlier this month, Syrian rebels' lightning push to Damascus from their
strongholds in the northwest ended the decades-long rule of Assad's family,
which had been an ally of Tehran.

Khamenei predicted "the emergence of a strong, honourable group" in Syria,
saying the country's young men had "nothing to lose."

"His university, school, home, street and life are insecure; what should he
do? He must stand with strength and determination against those who have
designed this insecurity and those who have implemented it, and God willing,
he will overcome them."

Assad had long played a strategic role in Iran's anti-Israel axis of
resistance, particularly in facilitating the supply of weapons to Hezbollah
in neighbouring Lebanon.

The axis of resistance also includes Hamas, the Huthis and smaller Shia
militia groups in Iraq.

All of the groups are united in their opposition to Israel and its main
backer the United States.

The supreme leader, who has the final say in major state policies, also
accused the United States of trying to create chaos and unrest in Iran.

"The Iranian nation will trample under its strong feet anyone who accepts
America's mercenary role in this regard," he said.