The visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to Beirut was, in Hezbollah’s view, "exceptional," both in its timing and in its content, as it carried multiple dimensions connected to the future of its solid relationship with Tehran, and to the future of the situation inside Lebanon, in the region in general, and consequently in Iran itself, which is currently experiencing an unstable situation.

It is no secret that Araghchi’s surprise visit came at a highly complex and sensitive regional moment, a stage of accumulating pressure on Iran itself, accompanied by Israeli and American political and military escalation against it, with threats that Iran considers imminent, especially as the authorities in Tehran are making extraordinary efforts to confront an internal "uprising" led by opposition forces that took to the streets due to the rapid collapse of the national currency.

Consequently, it was natural for the party to find in Araghchi's visit an urgent reassurance message that it eagerly awaited.

It is known that circles within the party have recently seemed unable to provide convincing answers to their base and environment regarding the future of the situation Iran has reached, at a time when the Islamic regime appeared on the verge of collapse.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister.

Sources close to the party acknowledge that its environment had been "thirsty" for something that would reassure its heart about Iran, the "organic" ally, after the successive blows and setbacks the party went through since it suffered severe Israeli military strikes that almost toppled its political and military leadership and nearly broke its back, by its own leaders’ admission. Then came the fall of Syria, which had been its lifeline, and the transformation of the government in Damascus into a bitter adversary, followed by another negative development represented by Washington capturing the Venezuelan ally President Maduro, in preparation for forcing the regime in Caracas into submission, which deprived the party and what remained of the axis of a vital outlet and an important arena.

And although it was clear that Iran definitely wanted, through its foreign minister’s visit to Beirut, to show those concerned that it is confronting all attempts to remove it from Lebanon and that it has no intention of surrendering to the new equations, it was natural for the party to rely on this visit as a factor of support and backing during the stage that began after Beirut officially announced the end of the first phase of the plan to restrict weapons south of the Litani River, and the start of the second phase, which the army is supposed to begin in the area between the two rivers. Therefore, the party still considers that its confrontations are ongoing and that it needs Iran as a key player in the region. This is in addition to recent discussions that said that "exclusive control of weapons," as desired by those in power in Beirut and abroad, cannot be achieved without an understanding with Iran, based on the assumption that the "command" of these weapons lies exclusively in Tehran.

Based on this, observers of the dimensions of this visit found that Tehran wanted to send reassurance to the party, its supporters, and the Shiite community that it will not leave them alone in the storms of developments affecting the region. It also wanted to show that it still behaves as a state confident in its resilience, to the point that it sent along with its foreign minister to Beirut a senior economic envoy tasked with discussing with Lebanese officials plans to strengthen commercial and economic relations with Lebanon.

In addition to that, Araghchi deliberately adopted conciliatory and calming language, which in the party’s view means that Iran, which many wanted to push out of Lebanon after having pushed it out of Syria earlier, is on its way to absorbing the shifts and changes, and has launched a counter-offensive by devising a comprehensive management approach to the regional crisis that remains open to various possibilities.

Therefore, it was natural for the party to "welcome" the Iranian reassurance message even if it does not provide confirmation that the "season of sorrow and pain" is about to end.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Annahar