Speech by Major General Dr. Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam at the Islamic Awakening Conference at the Supreme National Defense University

According to the Center for Communications and International Relations, on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, thinkers from France, Germany, Italy, Djibouti, Kenya, Lebanon, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Argentina, South Africa, Niger, Morocco, Ghana, Mali, Sudan, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Mexico, India, Spain, Ireland, Mauritania, Niger, Algeria, Pakistan, Iraq, and Ecuador, who had been invited by the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening, attended the SNDU in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In this session, Major General Dr. Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam referred to the historical formation of the Resistance Axis and the roots of recent developments, as well as the decline of the United States and the Zionist regime. Given the importance of the topics discussed, the full text of this speech has been transcribed as follows:

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

If we were to name the top news stories of 2024, which we have just passed, three highly significant headlines would be:

The election of Mr. Trump as President of the United States, which was unexpected and outside predictions, will naturally mark the beginning of significant shifts in the international arena. This is not merely a change of one president for another; there are substantial behavioral differences involved. The second incident is the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has become the focal point of the East-West confrontation and a region of expansion for NATO. By 2024, the Russians managed to change the field conditions to their advantage, and it appears we are on the brink of unexpected agreements and initial investments.

The third issue is Gaza and the events in West Asia, as well as the Resistance Axis, which have drawn global attention. While the Gaza incident occurred in a small geographical area between the Islamic Resistance fighters, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad on one side and the Zionist regime on the other, its repercussions and impact have spread throughout the entire region and, to a degree, the entire world. If I refer to the latest incident involving the Ansarullah resistance in Yemen in the Red Sea, we see that the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Zionist regime have directly entered the conflict. Maritime routes have undergone significant changes, and major industrial powers that are exporters and importers of goods have been affected by the Gaza war, as evidenced in the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea. The West has been unable to stop the attacks by Ansarullah in Yemen despite all their efforts. Thus, the implications of the Gaza issue are not limited to the small geography of Gaza.

Even during the approximately 16 months in which the issues of Yemen and Gaza have been raised at the United Nations—whether in the Security Council, the General Assembly, or other international forums—these topics have been among the most frequently discussed in the past year. Only the United States and a few other small countries have supported the Zionist regime, aligning themselves with nations that are under the influence of the U.S. Even Western allies did not fully support the Zionist regime, opting instead for a position of abstention and a degree of caution.

I will review the past and how we arrived at this point in history, because without an understanding of the background, the ups and downs, and a proper and precise assessment, we cannot make calculations about the future. Regarding Lebanon and Islamic resistance, I would like to mention points that are also connected to the issue of Palestine.

In the 1970s, Palestinian resistance factions and groups used Lebanon as a base to attack the Zionist regime. In 1978, when Lebanon was embroiled in civil wars and had lost its sovereignty and national authority, the Zionist regime advanced to the Litani River under the pretext of establishing a security belt. In 1982, they crossed the Litani and reached Beirut, disarming the Palestinian groups in Lebanon and declaring the end of Palestinian resistance by exiling the leaders of these groups, including the late Yasser Arafat, to North Africa. They considered the matter resolved. However, this so-called end marked the beginning of the Islamic resistance and Hezbollah, as well as the emergence of the Intifada in the occupied territories and among the Palestinian people. The Intifada took shape in the late 1980s, and ultimately, the issue of Palestine, which had been forgotten, returned to the forefront. In 1993, the establishment of the Palestinian Authority was formalized in the Oslo Accords, leading to a form of recognition of the Palestinian cause.

Then, in 2005, Hamas won the internal elections, but its governance remained limited to Gaza and did not extend to the West Bank. We can observe Hamas's political and military sovereignty from 2005 to the present, a span of nearly 20 years. During this time, multiple wars occurred between the Zionist regime, including those lasting 55 days, 12 days, one day, and the Storm of Al-Aqsa, and the Zionist regime has consistently been compelled to yield to the demands and will of the resistance. In Lebanon, the regime ultimately withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, ending its occupation, and in 2006, it faced defeat against the Islamic resistance of Hezbollah in the 33-Day War.

However, the Oslo Accords and the Palestinian Authority did not unfold as anticipated with the rise of Netanyahu and the defeat of the Labor Party. Areas classified as (B), which were supposed to become area (A), and areas (C), which were to transition to (B) and subsequently to (A), not only failed to change as expected, but we witnessed a reverse trend, leading to a continuous shrinking of the territories under the authority of the Palestinian government. The number of settlers who were supposed to leave these lands increased daily. In reality, no government remained. A number of besieged islands persisted on one side, while on the other side, the Zionist regime withdrew from the Nile to the Euphrates, erecting tall walls and electronic surveillance systems. The political, economic, and cultural dominance that Peres referred to in his book "The New Middle East"—stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, from the Strait of Hormuz to Gibraltar—was not achieved. Instead, the regime became besieged, facing the primary issue of "security." In this context, conciliatory behaviors hindered the full emergence of resistance capacities. The "Deal of the Century," the Abraham Accords, and various other plans cast doubt on the struggle's trajectory. Ultimately, in the Storm of Al-Aqsa, we witnessed an attack from the resistance aimed at disrupting the equations that were projected to soon dominate the region, and these equations were indeed upended.

However, we have also witnessed other changes. The perceptions and concepts we previously held about the Zionist regime had certain pillars. For instance, the Zionists were believed to be powerless when it came to prisoners, often negotiating and paying a high price. They were seen as unable to handle casualties, paying heavy costs even for the remains of bodies. The regime's economic resilience for war and its military capacity for prolonged conflicts were thought to be insufficient.Yet, what we see today is that these old notions have come to an end. The regime continues its sixteenth war under the banner of "survival," showing little concern for the deaths of its own soldiers. Today, the most crucial aspiration for the Zionist regime and its occupiers is survival, representing the lowest level of their demands. On the surface, they have inflicted heavy blows on Islamic resistance, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and martyring tens of thousands of innocent individuals. However, they have failed to achieve their objectives in the war, namely the destruction of Hamas and the liberation of prisoners. Ultimately, they found themselves negotiating with Hamas, which signifies an acknowledgment of the resistance's existence. This was an important point.

In the face of Hezbollah and the Islamic resistance in Lebanon, it is true that Hezbollah paid a very heavy price with the martyrdom of Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah and many commanders and leaders of this movement. However, the Zionist regime failed in its goal of destroying Hezbollah and reaching the Litani River. After 66 days of war, it ultimately settled for empty areas and sparsely populated villages, being forced to accept a ceasefire.

In this context, there were others who, under the banner of supporting Palestine, dealt blows to the axis of resistance. The situation in Syria and the separation of Syria from the axis of resistance is a bitter event. We will not delve into the nature of the Ba'ath regime and its issues; rather, we view it from the perspective of the Islamic resistance and the aim of undermining the resistance. One of the axes pursued the sinister plot of claiming to support the Palestinian and Muslim people at a time when Hezbollah and Hamas were engaged in conflict. Unfortunately, the Islamic resistance suffered a blow here, and Lebanon today finds itself in a more challenging situation. However, just as Hezbollah emerged victorious in the 1996 war using only weapons sourced from the smuggling market in Lebanon, without any military connection to other countries, and managed to conduct the war with rusty Katyushas and weapons bought from smugglers, they remain capable of continuing the resistance today.

In the final part of my remarks, I would like to take a global perspective on the issue. Over the past four decades, as the Islamic resistance and our region have witnessed numerous transformations and wars, we have seen the nearly simultaneous collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, the rise of American unilateralism, and the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks in 2002 and 2003. Today, after 20 years, we are witnessing the end of American unilateralism. The United States is no longer the ruler and manager of the world. The fact that the Zionist regime and the U.S. consistently secure 10 to 12 votes from about 200 countries in the General Assembly regarding Palestine signifies the lowest point of American soft power in its history, marking a decline in its influence.

Today, the entire Western front is facing defeat against Russia, along with a few smaller countries that occasionally aligned with it in the Ukrainian theater. This illustrates the situation. As Elon Musk stated, Ukraine has become a center for the theft of American dollars and a market for corruption that benefits neither the U.S. nor its interests. This is a late acknowledgment of the West's failure, as they believed two years ago that they would dominate this scene, only to now admit their defeat. Europe has suffered a double blow, losing both its energy security and its military security.

Today, Mr. Trump is calling for an increase in the prices of energy exports as well as a monopoly on gas exports to Europe. Recently, he stated that if Europe does not buy American gas at higher prices, we will raise tariffs on your imports by up to 20 percent, essentially punishing you. Another arena is Gaza, which is not limited to a tug-of-war between the Zionist regime and Hamas. Its implications extend across the entire world. Today, if we observe these behavioral and doctrinal changes among the Zionists, and note how far they have diverged from the perceptions we historically held about them, the reason lies in the unwavering presence of the West, which does not wish to see a second defeat after Ukraine.

Europe does not want to endure a second defeat, and even if it does not achieve victory, it seeks to create a false narrative of success for itself and the Zionists. Even if the conflict in the region were to end today, the Zionists would find themselves in a far worse situation than at the onset of the Storm of Al-Aqsa. They face more determined adversaries, who are more wounded, and their internal economy and politics are in disarray. Ultimately, all countries around the world, including the Americans, have acknowledged the need for a two-state solution there.

Today, the only opponents of establishing an independent Palestinian state, even on the territories of 1967, are the Zionists and extremist Zionists. The difference is that the United States claims that the Israelis must be convinced and accept this plan. This is a form of hypocrisy and deception. However, the fact that the entire world acknowledges the establishment of a Palestinian state, regardless of its size, is an achievement made in this arena. We must not overlook that those who seek compromise and opportunism are working to ensure that the Islamic resistance in Palestine and Hamas do not emerge victorious, viewing it as contrary to their interests—even those who are closest in religious and political thought.

Another point I would like to mention is that today, with agreements like BRICS and Shanghai taking shape, even someone like Trump declares that if BRICS currency is established, we will impose sanctions on those countries. He is forced to acknowledge that these American sanctions have led to the devaluation of the dollar and the formation of these alliances. This means that sanctions are no longer just against the targeted countries; they challenge the sovereignty of the United States itself.

Today, it is entirely clear that the flow of power, after several hundred years, is gradually shifting from the West to the East. The most significant representative of the Western camp in the East and the Middle East today is the Zionist regime. Even our southern allies and neighbors have recognized this situation and are diversifying their foreign policies, despite Western expectations. They did not participate in the sanctions against Russia during the Ukraine war and have not only maintained but increased their economic relations with China and Eastern powers.

They realized that there was a need for some diversification in their foreign policy, which reflects an understanding of the shifting balance of power globally. I would like to once again express my gratitude to all distinguished guests, wishing everyone success and prosperity. Above all, I hope for a swift and imminent victory for the Islamic resistance in the region.

Peace be upon you, and God's mercy and blessings.