“We have a good relationship with Iran and there is mutual respect...I want to emphasize that just because we make decisions independently, that doesn’t mean that there might not be any common goals or interests. It is no secret that Iran supports all the militias in this area and we are obviously one of them...”Niqash, “Iraq’s Most Fearsome Shia Militia Leader Speaks Out,” Daily Beast, August 24, 2015, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/24/iraq-s-most-fearsome-shia-militia-leader-speaks-out.html.

“[H]elp from Iran is unconditional.”Associated Press, “Iraq Militia Leader Hails Iran’s ‘Unconditional’ Support,” New York Times, March 13, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/03/13/world/middleeast/ap-ml-islamic-state.html.

“[Qasem Soleimani] advises us. He offers us information, we respect him very much.”Eli Lake, “Iran's Militias Are Taking Over Iraq’s Army,” Bloomberg View, February 3, 2015, hhttp://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-02-03/exclusive-iran-s-militias-are-taking-over-iraq-s-army.

“The majority of us believe that ... [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei has all the qualifications as an Islamic leader. He is the leader not only for Iranians but the Islamic nation. I believe so and I take pride in it… Khamenei would place the interests of the Iraqi people above all else.”Ned Parker, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Isabel Coles, “Special Report: How Iran’s military chiefs operate in Iraq,” Reuters, February 24, 2015, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/24/us-mideast-crisis-committee-specialrepor-idUSKBN0LS0VD20150224.

“The majority of us believe that ... Khamenei has all the qualifications as an Islamic leader. He is the leader not only for Iranians but the Islamic nation. I believe so and I take pride in it… Khamenei would place the interests of the Iraqi people above all else.”Ned Parker, Babak Dehghanpisheh, and Isabel Coles, “Special Report: How Iran’s military chiefs operate in Iraq,” Reuters, February 24, 2015, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/24/us-mideast-crisis-committee-specialrepor- idUSKBN0LS0VD20150224.

“The visit is positive and the meetings with the Iranians were warm. Hamas is concerned with Iran’s role as a pivotal country in the region with a long history of supporting the resistance. Hamas does not have to reveal the mechanism and details of the support it receives from any party, or the nature of ties it has with the parties it deals with.”Adnan Abu Amer, “Hamas asks Iran for money, weapons,” Al-Monitor, December 17, 2014, https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2014/12/iran-hamas-repair-ties-with-visit-to-theran.html.

“Iran never left Iraq. This very close relationship has made Iran support Iraq all they can.”Missy Ryan and Loveday Morris, “The U.S. and Iran are aligned in Iraq against the Islamic State — for now,” Washington Post, December 27, 2014, http://http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-us-and-iran-are-aligned-in-iraq-against-the-islamic-state--for-now/2014/12/27/353a748c-8d0d-11e4-a085-34e9b9f09a58_story.html.

Released a nasheed hailing Qasem Soleimani “as the ‘living martyr’ (al-shaheed al-hayy) of Ayatollah Khamenei.”Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, “Interview with the leader of Harakat al-Nujaba: Interview and Analysis,” Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi’s Blog, April 15, 2015, http://www.aymennjawad.org/2015/04/interview-with-the-leader-of-harakat-al-nujaba.

“This is one of the Israeli enemy’s concerns. It looks at Syria and Iran [key Assad and Hezbollah backer]… and sees that they are giving all the help they can to the resistance.”“Hezbollah Can Still Deter Israel, Terror Chief Warns,” Agence France-Presse, May 25, 2014, http://www.timesofisrael.com/hezbollah-can-still-deter-israel-terror-chief-warns/.

“In the past two decades, Iran has had an outstanding stance on Palestine, Israel and the resistance. Some question Iran’s intentions and motives regarding its support to the resistance. Our job is not to examine intentions; we are concerned with actions… We appreciate Iran's outstanding position on the Palestinian cause, but there are other sensitive files and issues in the region that have made others say that Iran constitutes a threat to them. They even see Iran as a new enemy in the region, instead of Israel. In our opinion, this is a dangerous slippery slope. We believe that the goal, or one of the main goals, of the hostile forces in the ummah [Islamic nation] — in light of the brutal wars taking place between components of the ummah and between our societies—is for the sectarian conflict, or the Sunni-Shiite conflict, to replace the Israeli-Arab conflict.”Ibrahim Humeidi, “Islamic Jihad Leader Discusses Iran, Reconciliation, Syria,” Al-Monitor, May 22, 2014, http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ar/politics/2014/05/palestine-syria-iran-islamic-jihad-interview-reconciliation.html.