The commander of Iran’s IRGC on Monday reiterated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s comments from the previous day, asserting that Iran does not operate a proxy network in the region but rather ideological allies.

Warning Iranians of enemy plots, General Hossein Salami said, “The enemies aim to burden the Iranian people with events that are far from victories and claim that Iran has lost its regional allies.”

Salami added, “Iran has not lost its arms [in the region]—are the sons of Lebanon not still standing? Has Palestine surrendered? We share the same ideals, beliefs, and convictions with the Lebanese and Yemenis.”

Salami then appeared to deny a long-standing reality that Tehran arms and military assistance to its allies in the region. “Our enemies are the same, but each of them acts within their own lands based on their own interests. Everyone fights with their own capabilities; no one relies on anyone else. While we provide maximum spiritual and political support to the resistance front, they procure their own weapons just as we do.”

Since the collapse of Tehran’s ally, Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria earlier this month, the leaders of the Islamic Republic in Tehran are scrambling to explain their loss, which many see as a strategic defeat.

In a speech on Sunday, Khamenei attempted to downplay the weakening and defeats of Tehran’s regional allies and proxies. "They constantly say that the Islamic Republic has lost its proxy forces in the region! This is another mistake! The Islamic Republic does not have proxy forces. Yemen fights because of its faith; Hezbollah fights because its faith gives it strength to fight; Hamas and Jihad fight because their beliefs compel them to do so."

This comes after years of Iran spending an immense amount of blood and treasure to defend Assad’s embattled rule and arm the Hezbollah in Lebanon to confront Israel. Iranian officials have acknowledged that Tehran has spent at least $50 billion in Syria sine 2011, when it began to send military advisers and, later, a mix of Iranian forces along with Afghan, Pakistani and Iraqi militias to defend Assad’s embattled rule.

At the end of his remarks, Salami once again denied arming the Palestinian Hamas, despite multiple reports over the years of training, money and some weapons being provided. “Palestine is alive; have they surrendered? They are still fighting. The pillars of the resistance act based on their own motivations, and everyone fights with their own capabilities, relying on no one. We support the resistance front, but they produce their own weapons.”