Every so often, Iran’s own media publishes something that makes Israel’s argument for it, and does not seem to notice.

On June 16, the Iranian state-aligned Fars News Agency carried remarks by Naim Qassem, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, thanking his Iranian patrons. The tone was devotional. The content was a confession.

Qassem said that Iran “has given everything to Hezbollah, the resistance, and the people of Lebanon, and has taken nothing from them.” He thanked Tehran for supplying “capabilities, the strength to liberate their land.” He said Iran was now “giving blood,” confronting Israel in response to its strike on Beirut’s Dahieh, and declared, “I say this loudly: Iran is a symbol of dignity and honor.”

The contradiction sits in plain sight. A benefactor that has “taken nothing” is, one sentence later, described as bleeding and fighting on Hezbollah’s behalf. Both cannot be the innocent description Qassem intends. What he is actually describing, in the........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)