Iran's new president Pezeshkian pledges continued support for Lebanon's Hezbollah

Iran's President-elect Massoud Pezeshkian has pledged continued support for Lebanon's Hezbollah and other "resistance" groups in the region in a letter addressed to Hassan Nasrallah cited by Tasnim News Agency on Monday.

In the letter, Pezeshkian said that "the Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported the resistance of the people in the region against the illegitimate Zionist regime".

He emphasised that this support was rooted in Iran's fundamental policies and "it will continue with strength".

His letter came in response to Nasrallah's message of congratulations to Pezeshkian on Saturday, in which he vowed to maintain Hezbollah's alliance with Tehran under Iran's new president-elect.

Nasrallah said that Hezbollah and other Iran-allied groups in the region "will continue the path... until final victory is achieved".

Pezeshkian thanked Nasrallah for his "valuable and kind message", saying: "I am confident that the Resistance movements in the region will not allow this regime to continue its warmongering and criminal policies against the oppressed people of Palestine and other nations in the region," in an apparent reference to Israel.

He concluded his letter with a prayer for "prosperity and progress for the people of Lebanon, and divine victory for the heroic Resistance fighters".

Tehran provides financial and military support to Hezbollah, which was created at the initiative of Iran's Revolutionary Guards after Israel overran Beirut in 1982 during Lebanon's civil war.

Some people in Iran have protested the government's financial and military assistance to the group, slamming it as a "waste of national resources".

Hezbollah is a key part of the so-called Axis of Resistance - an alliance of pro-Iran armed movements that oppose Israel and the United States.

The alliance also includes Palestinian group Hamas, Yemen's Houthi rebels and other armed groups in Iraq.

On Saturday, reformist candidate Pezeshkian, who advocates improved ties with the West, won a runoff presidential election against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili.

Pezeshkian replaces ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May, leaving his successor to tackle a myriad of economic and political crises amid regional tensions.