Former Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheik Subhi Al-Tufeili: Nasrallah's Relations with Iran Are Relations of a Subordinate Mercenary, of Someone Who Believes He Must Obey Khamenei

Following are excerpts from an interview with former Hizbullah secretary-general Sheik Subhi Al-Tufeili, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on February 9, 2007.

Interviewer: You said that the Hizbullah leadership and Hassan Nasrallah are implementing the policy of Ayatollah Al-Khamenei to the letter.

Sheik Subhi Al-Tufeili: True.

Interviewer: Didn't you implement the policy of Imam Al-Khomeini when you were the secretary-general of Hizbullah?

Sheik Subhi Al-Tufeili: I had full conviction in the leadership of Imam Al-Khomeini, because of our joint perspectives, and not in terms of "the Rule of the Jurisprudent." Even in the days of Imam Al-Khomeini, or in any other period, if I had a dissenting view, I would raise it, discuss it, and I would insist upon it very clearly. With Imam Al-Khomeini, the [contentious] issues were not that significant, but after he was gone, these issues intensified, and the exacerbated day by day, from the 80's to the 90's.

Interviewer: So why do you allow yourself to do things that you deny Hassan Nasrallah?

Sheik Subhi Al-Tufeili: In what way?

Interviewer: With regard to relations with Iran.

Sheik Subhi Al-Tufeili: I am not against relations with Iran. I support relations with Iran, and with all Arab Islamic countries, on the basis of cooperation and on the basis of serving Islam, the Muslims, and the citizens, and not in the sense of being a subordinate mercenary.

Interviewer: Are you saying that Nasrallah has relations of a subordinate mercenary with Iran? Is this what you are saying?

Sheik Subhi Al-Tufeili: When a certain person, in a certain place, such as Iraq, is an ally of the Americans and wages a destructive war in Iraq, while in a different place, in Lebanon, he says he is opposing the Americans, and he almost drives the country to war, in the name of his anti-Americanism – this is unacceptable.

Interviewer: But Sheik Subhi, you did not answer the question exactly. Are you saying Nasrallah has relations of a subordinate mercenary with Iran?

Sheik Subhi Al-Tufeili: These are the relations of someone who believes that his leader, whom he should obey, is Khamenei.

Interviewer: Is this wrong?

Sheik Subhi Al-Tufeili: I do not believe in the Rule of the Jurisprudent.