DUBAI, July 30. /TASS/. Newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met with leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Lebanese Hezbollah groups and told them that Tehran will continue to support the groups in their struggle against Israel, the presidential administration said.

"Supporting the Axis of Resistance is a religious duty and one of the basic principles of Iranian policy," the administration quoted the president as saying. The meeting with Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah and Hezbollah deputy head Naim Qassem was held in the Iranian capital.

"Iran's stance in supporting the cause of liberating Jerusalem has not changed with the new government that has come to power. We will not leave our Palestinian brothers and sisters alone with the Israeli regime's crimes against humanity," the Iranian leader pointed out.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah pointed out that "the people of Palestine will never forget Iran’s support," while Hezbollah deputy head Naim Qassem opined that Israel "will be defeated by the resistance forces thanks to the support of the Islamic Republic."

The Islamic resistance forces, which Tehran considers its allies in the region and calls the "Axis of Resistance," include Muslim, mostly Shiite, paramilitary groups. They include Palestine's Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, Yemen's Houthi rebel movement Ansar Allah, and Afghan and Pakistani Shiite units fighting terrorist groups in Syria.

On July 5, Pezeshkian was elected president of Iran. A swearing-in ceremony for the new head of the executive branch will be held in parliament on July 30. The Russian side will be represented at the event by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.