Molavi Abdul Ghaffar Naqshbandi, a Sunni leader in Iran’s Baluchestan, pledged to avenge the victims of the Zahedan massacre in an October 28, 2022 speech posted on YouTube. Naqshbandi referred to the violent crackdown against protesters in Baluchestan, in which dozens of Baluchis were killed by the Iranian authorities. He said that the people of Baluchestan await the orders of Maulana Abdolhamid, Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi, the spiritual leader of Iran’s Sunnis. Naqshabandi added: “I swear to God, we will not rest until we avenge the blood of our children.” He warned the Sunni leaders of Baluchestan against meeting with authorities or participating in any government conferences, marches or elections until the blood of the victims is avenged, otherwise they would be considered traitors to the youth of Zahedan.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi discussed relations between Iran and China in an interview with Chinese official broadcaster CGTN during a visit to the country. He said that both countries “share common positions and interests” on opposing unilateralism and maintaining independence and autonomy. Raisi added: “A stronger Iran is not something that Iran’s enemies want to see, and likewise, a stronger China is not something that some countries are pleased to see.” He said that America imposes sanctions on Iran in order for it to make “concessions on long-term objectives” and that this is a “form of warfare.” Raisi added that the United States seeks to “achieve its goals” by inciting unrest on the streets of Iran and that some European countries are similarly “manipulating” Iranian people’s minds. President Raisi spoke in Persian and English subtitles were provided by CGTN TV. The interview was posted on CGTN’s YouTube channel on February 18, 2023.

At a February 11, 2023 event at the Iranian embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, Rached Ghannouchi, the president of the Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Ennahda Movement and the former Tunisian Speaker of the House, congratulated Iran on the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Ghannouchi said that the Islamic Revolution “has played a major role in the Islamic revival across the world.” Iranian Ambassador to Tunisia Mohammad Reza Raouf Sheibani also spoke at the event. A report about the event was aired on Alghadeer TV (Iraq).

Hizbullah’s Al-Manar TV aired a report on Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri’s visit to south Lebanon and the border with Israel on February 10, 2023. According to the report, Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani led the visit and was welcomed by the head of Hizbullah in the Jabal Amil area, Abdallah Nasser. The delegation toured the Iran Garden in Maroun Al-Ras and inspected the views into northern Israel. Bagheri praised Hizbullah for liberating “the land from occupation,” providing Lebanon with “stability, calm, and capabilities.” The delegation commemorated IRGC Qods Force senior officer Hesam Khoshnevis (aka Hassan Shateri), head of the Iranian Committee for the Reconstruction of Lebanon, who was killed in an airstrike attributed to Israel in 2013 and Qods Force commander General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by the U.S. in 2020.