Following are excerpts from an interview with Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, which aired on Al-Manar TV on febraury 7, 2012:
Hassan Nasrallah: "Some people, in order to continue the incitement and to prevent unity in Lebanon, would like there to be a conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, as well as between the Muslims and the Christians. In order to make the Christians fear the Muslims, they bring up declarations, made in 1982 or 1983, that we want to establish an Islamic republic.
"It's true. At the beginning, back in 1982 and 1983, some brothers – myself included – talked about the option of an Islamic republic in Lebanon. Let's get this issue out of the way, so that we don’t keep seeing it on TV or on the Internet every Friday.
"But let me remind you that even some of the Christian leaders of today, who talk about a single state, democracy, coexistence, and internal peace, used to talk back then about a national Christian homeland. They used to talk about the partitioning [of Lebanon] or about a federal state. Now they say that they don't want it anymore.
"We used to talk… I was a young Islamist of 23, 24, 25 years. I was a young Islamist of 23, 24, 25 years. We were all young back then. Now Hizbullah has begun to grow old… We said it, but then we gained a better understanding of the situation in Lebanon. We conducted revisions, we made studies.
"For over 20 years, the political narrative of Hizbullah has been clear. We are not ashamed and are not afraid of anyone. These are our convictions, which we believe to be in the interests of the Lebanese people, of the Muslims of all affiliations, of the Christians, and of the country. […]
"We receive all possible forms of moral, political, and material support from the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1982. In the past, although we didn't lie about this, we only told half of the truth. We said we have moral support and political support, but when we were asked about material, financial, or military support, we kept silent. We didn't say anything – one way or the other. We didn't want to embarrass our brothers in Iran, but when the Supreme Leader [Khamenei] said: 'We are giving aid' – that's it. […]
"From the beginning, the support we received was a source of pride for the Islamic Republic of Iran, because this resistance in Lebanon, which achieved the greatest, most important, and clearest Arab victory over Israel on May 25, 2000, would not have achieved it without the moral and material – I repeat, material – Iranian support for the resistance movement in Lebanon. […]
"We get no [Iranian] dictates, even when it comes to imminent developments in the region. Some people talk about what would happen if Israel were to attack the Iranian nuclear facilities. I tell you, on that day – which I consider unlikely and which we will talk about on February 16… If that day comes, I tell you straight away that Imam Khamenei and the leadership in Iran will not demand a thing from Hizbullah. They will not demand, dictate, or want a thing. On that day, we will be the ones who deliberate, and who decide what action to take." […]
