Iranian political analyst Emad Abshenas said on a December 27, 2022 show on Al-Hurra TV (U.S.) Iran has not yet retaliated for Israeli airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria because it is waiting for “permission” from the Syrian regime. He also said that Iran supplies weapons to Hizbullah, Gaza, and Palestinians in the West Bank, and that Israel is therefore surrounded by the “resistance” and by Iran’s allies. Abshenas said that if Israel “makes a mistake” and attacks inside Iran, Iran will retaliate directly against Israel.

Ayatollah Abbas Kaabi, a member of Iran’s Guardian Council, said at an event organized by the Iranian embassy in Baghdad that the attacks against American forces in Iraq that have been taking place since the January 2020 U.S. assassination of IRGC Qods Force Commander Qasem Soleimani and PMU deputy leader Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis will continue “with force and determination.” He also said that the “martyr” Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hizbullah leader killed in 2008, will only be avenged by the liberation of Jerusalem, that the “martyr” Qasem Soleimani will only be avenged by the collapse of America and Zionism, and that the “martyr” Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis will only be avenged by the end of the occupation in Iraq and the region. Ayatollah Kaabi’s speech was uploaded to the PMU’s YouTube account on December 30, 2022.

Egyptian TV host Ibrahim Eissa said on a December 16, 2022 episode of his show on Al-Kahera Wal-Nas TV (Egypt) that the Arabs have made no significant achievements in any field since the golden days of Arab civilization, and that this is why Arab celebrate victories in sports, as political victories. He elaborated that there have been no Arab victories or scientific achievements since Avicenna and Alhazen, and he said that the Islamic scholars only wanted to kill the polymaths and intellectuals, who were responsible for this progress. For more about Ibrahim Eissa, see MEMRI TV Clips nos. 9794, 9082, 8621, 8568, 7852, 7295, 7172, 6767, 6530, 6416, and 5150.