This is John Batchelor, conversation with my colleague Benham Ben Tellable Senior Fellow Foundation for the Defense of Democracy's.

Nasrallah threatens to attack Israel after the targeted killing of one of his rocketeers.

The Ayatollah, Hameen, threatens to attack Israel after the targeted killing of Ismal Naya of the Hamas in Tehran, both of them threatening at the same time. Are they working together?

Are these regimes looking to protect themselves in some fashion by making threats?

I asked Benham Bentalebleau to help me understand their relationship.

Here's his response, and there's much more of this tonight. Thank you.

I still think they're working together, lest we forget the axis of resistance as a

constellation of terror and proxy forces either created or co-opted by the Islamic

republic and in particular the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Most of the

arms that Lebanese Hezbollah has today is Iranian.

Lebanese Hezbollah has intervened decisively on Iran's behalf in at least three different military

theaters, Syria, Iraq, and indeed even in Yemen, based on Arabic language reports.

So here I would zoom out and note three things.

One is that the level of Hezbollah's risk tolerance also has to do with the level of its control in Lebanon and the fact that it wants to continue to

remain in power if not gain more power in Lebanon.

There's localized considerations here.

This is not contrary to what the Islamic Republic wants because it wants its proxy to survive.

So there is more of a confluence than a contrast of interest here.

As to the conventional deterrence that these rockets and missiles and mortars and drones and

anti-tank weapons and artillery that the Islamic Republic has furnished Hezbollah

with well certainly this stuff poses robust conventional deterrence and functions like a knife against the neck of the Jewish state such that if Israel does decide to take out the crown jewel of Iran's atomic infrastructure that this barrage would essentially be triggered,

kind of like a dead hand that the Soviets had during World War II, and I should say

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