Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the Tehran University and former media advisor to the Iranian Nuclear Negotiation Team, has claimed that Iran used old missiles in the attack on Israel on October 1 as a deliberate act of restraint on Tehran’s part. Marandi, a prominent presence on Al Jazeera, also said that Iran is not worried or scared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat to pay Iran back.
He says Iran’s nuclear and oil and gas infrastructure is extremely well-protected because, for decades, it has had to protect these installations against any possible American attack. An attack by Israel can, therefore, be easily handled. Marandi also denied that Ayatollah Khamenei had been taken to a safe house for protection after the killing of Hassan Nasrallah.
Speaking about Hezbollah, Marandi suggested that the Nsarallah’s killing and perhaps 10-12 top commanders, including possibly, Hashem Safieddine is because Beirut is a weak link for Hezbollah. He said in the rest of the country Hezbollah’s strength is unaffected. However, he couldn’t explain why the secretary general of Hezbollah and his presumed successor Safieddine were based in the weak link area of Beirut.
