Iran’s Basij chief praises 'resistance cinema', saying that 'change has begun' in US, Israel

Iran’s Basij commander Hossein Taeb has said that the US and Israel are seeing change amid their ongoing attempts at transforming the Middle East's landscape. "Today, we say that change has begun in America and Israel, and we will soon see it across different areas," he said during the closing ceremony of the 19th International Resistance Film Festival in Tehran. His highlighted the use of media and film as a way of "disrupting America’s media monopoly", describing it as "resistance cinema". "The staging of this festival under such circumstances signifies that - much like a combatant who never abandons their launchers during military defence - an artist engaged in the 'perceptual battlefield' does not desert their post, even under the shadow of war, economic siege, or any other threat," he said. "Through their portrayal of the Resistance, they inflict a new defeat upon the enemy." Referencing US-Israeli attacks on Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, Taeb said: "All these crimes took place; children were killed, and the oppressed peoples of the region suffered. Yet, the true losers in this conflict were the United States and Israel."