The Islamic Republic suffered devastating blows since the October 7 massacre –  the decimation of their closest proxy, Hezbollah, followed by the fall of their ally Bashar Assad in Syria, the loss of Syrian territory as a route to rearm Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the subsequent refusal of their proxies in Iraq to continue aiding Iran and carry out attacks on Israel. Iranian leaders downplayed the importance of the fall of the Assad regime but Iran’s former top general in Syria broke with the party line and spoke candidly about Iran’s losses in a speech last week, the New York Times reported. An audio recording of the speech, delivered by Brig. Gen. Behrouz Esbati at a mosque in Tehran, was leaked to Iranian media and opposition outlets this week. Esbati began the speech by saying that he left Syria on the last military plane to Tehrna the night before Damascus fell to the rebels. “I don’t consider losing Syria something to be proud of,” said General Esbati. “We were defeated, and defeated very badly, we took a very big blow and it’s been very difficult.” Esbati revealed during the speech that Iran’s ties with Assad had deteriorated in the months before his ouster due to his refusal to Iran’s multiple requests to open a front against Israel from Syria following the October 7 massacre. Iran had even transferred comprehensive military plans to Assad on how it could use Iran’s military sources in Syria to attack Israel, he said. Esbati also claimed that Russia had misled Iran by saying that Russian jets were bombing Syrian rebels when they were actually just dropping the bombs on open fields. He added that over the past year, Russia “turned off radars” when Israel struck Iranian targets in Syria – facilitating the attacks. Esbati added that Iran hasn’t given up on Syria and is seeking ways to recruit insurgents under the new government. “We can activate all the networks we have worked with over the years,” he said. “We can activate the social layers that our guys lived among for years; we can be active in social media and we can form resistance cells.” “Now we can operate there as we do in other international arenas, and we have already started,” he claimed. According to the report, Esbati’s comments “stunned Iranians” – both due to their candid nature and the speaker’s high status, a top commander of Iran’s Armed Forces, outranking even Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani. At the end of the speech, Esbati answered questions from the audience. One person asked whether Iran planned on carrying out another attack on Israel to retaliate for its elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Esbati responded that “the situation” couldn’t realistically handle another attack on Israel right now. Another person asked why Iran doesn’t fire missiles at US military bases in the region. Esbati responded that the US and its allies would carry out retaliatory attacks and that Iran’s regular missiles could not penetrate advanced US defense systems. However, Esbati concluded that no one should worry, claiming that Iran and its allies “still have the upper hand on the ground in the region.” Mehdi Rahmati, a prominent analyst in Tehran and expert on Syria, said in a telephone interview that General Esbati’s speech was significant because it […]