Hezbollah leaders are convinced that no matter who the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran is, it will not change Tehran’s position in principle vis-à-vis the party. Moreover, their analysis rejects all speculation that a reformist president in Tehran will lead to less support for Hezbollah. They seem to believe that Tehran’s decision regarding its relationship with Hezbollah is controlled by two stable institutions whose power within Iran's governing system does not change regardless of who becomes president. The first institution is represented by the supreme leader of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, backed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the second is the hub of ayatollahs in Qom that has tremendous doctrinal and moral influence in Iran.
Hezbollah does not receive financial support from the Iranian state, but from khums funds. Khums is the Shiite religious obligation of the rich to contribute one-fifth of their income to their religious reference. Qom and Khamenei receive such alms from Shiites around the world. The revenue from khums is estimated to be in the millions of dollars annually. The ayatollahs and IRGC, not the Iranian state, have authority over this money and decide how to distribute it.
An examination of the details governing Hezbollah’s relationship with Iran reveals connections to the religious and ideological power structures in Iran rather than official government institutions. The IRGC is the organized power of the revolution, and its stature is equivalent to official political and military structures. Over time, it became the first defense committee in Iran and the country’s military arm, carrying out the decisions of the supreme leader locally and abroad. The IRGC has major military wings outside Iran. Hezbollah is considered one of them, although it has some independence at the level of its military structure and breadth of maneuvers in Lebanon.
A high-level leadership arrangement for Hezbollah was created to liaise with the Supreme Command of the IRGC. It is said to consist of a jihadist council of seven members led by Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and representatives of military and security agencies, in addition to an Iranian appointed by Tehran to oversee the permanent coordination mission.
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