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Hezbollah and Rouhani

Hezbollah's relationship with Iran is not dependent on the Iranian presidency or government, but rather insitutions connected with the office of Iran's supreme leader and the velayati-e faqih.
Supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah wave Hezbollah flags as they listen to him via a screen during a rally on the 7th anniversary of the end of Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel, in Aita al-Shaab village in southern Lebanon, August 16, 2013. Nasrallah renewed his commitment on Friday to the battle in Syria, where the Shi'ite militant group has been fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces, saying he was ready to go himself if needed. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho    (LEBANON
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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.

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