Key points
- Lebanese cabinet has approved goals of a US-backed roadmap to disarm Hezbollah
- Iran says it respects Lebanon’s sovereignty
- Iran didn’t bring any plan to Lebanon, the US did: Larijani
ISLAMABAD: No group in Lebanon is permitted to bear arms or rely on foreign backing, its president told a visiting senior Iranian official on Wednesday after the cabinet approved the goals of a US-backed roadmap to disarm the Iran-aligned Hezbollah group.
During a meeting in Beirut with Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s top security body, Joseph Aoun said the country was open to cooperation with Iran but only within the bounds of national sovereignty and mutual respect, according to Reuters.
“The friendship we seek with Iran must be with all Lebanese, not through one sect or component alone,” Aoun said, according to TRT Global.
Larijani said the Islamic Republic supports Lebanon’s sovereignty and does not interfere in its decision-making, according to Reuters.
“Any decision taken by the Lebanese government in consultation with the resistance is respected by us,” he said after separate talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, whose Amal movement is an ally of Hezbollah.
“Iran didn’t bring any plan to Lebanon, the US did. Those intervening in Lebanese affairs are those dictating plans and deadlines”, said Larijani.
“Israel is your enemy”
He said Lebanon should not “mix its enemies with its friends – your enemy is Israel, your friend is the resistance … I recommend to Lebanon to always appreciate the value of resistance.”
Later on Wednesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said after meeting Larijani that recent remarks on Lebanon by Iranian officials including Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi were totally rejected by his government. He said the comments constituted a “violation” of the principle of mutual state sovereignty.
Last week, Araqchi said Tehran supported any decision Hezbollah made and this was not the first attempt to strip the group of its arsenal.
Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, also criticised the Lebanese government’s move on disarmament. “If Hezbollah lays down its weapons, who will defend the lives, property, and honour of the Lebanese?” he said.
US plan
The US submitted a plan through President Donald Trump’s envoy to the region, Tom Barrack, setting out the most detailed steps yet for disarming Hezbollah, which has rejected mounting calls to disarm since its devastating war with Israel last year.
Hezbollah has rejected repeated calls to relinquish its weaponry although it was seriously weakened in the war, with Israel killing most of its leadership in airstrikes and bombings.
Aoun also said recent remarks by some Iranian officials had not been helpful, and reaffirmed that the Lebanese state and its armed forces were solely responsible for protecting all citizens, according to Reuters.
“Grave sin”
Hezbollah on other hand has rejected the Lebanese government’s decision, calling it a “grave sin” and saying it will treat it “as if it did not exist”, according to Naharnet.
