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Lebanon’s president told a top Iranian official that his country rejected all forms of foreign interference in sharp comments directed towards Tehran, a week after the country’s cabinet approved a divisive US-sponsored initiative to disarm Iran-backed Hizbollah.
President Joseph Aoun met in Beirut with Ali Larijani, who last week was appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, a powerful body in charge of shaping Iran’s defence and security strategy.
Larijani is the most senior Iranian official to visit the country since the Lebanese government last week approved the road map, put forward by US special envoy Tom Barrack, laying out the steps needed to disarm Hizbollah.
Disarming the Shia militant group — which has defied mounting pressure to relinquish its weapons since its bruising war with Israel last year — is the most consequential issue for Lebanon today, with international aid to rebuild following the conflict hinging on its ability to do so.
“The language Lebanon has heard recently from some Iranian officials is unhelpful,” Aoun said, in remarks released by his office and posted to X following his meeting with Larijani. “We reject any interference in our internal affairs by any entity and we want Lebanon to remain safe and stable.”
Hizbollah contends that the group’s weapons are necessary to defend the country against Israel, which, despite a US-brokered ceasefire last November, has held on to pockets of Lebanese territory and conducted hundreds of air strikes across the country.
It has refused to recognise the plan, condemning it as “completely in Israel’s interest”. Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said last week that Tehran opposed Hizbollah’s disarming while foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said it supported any decision Hizbollah makes.
“Lebanon is willing to co-operate with Iran within the bounds of sovereignty and friendship based on mutual respect,” Aoun said, adding that relations between Lebanon and Iran should be with all Lebanese, and not just one religious sect — a reference to the Shia Islamic republic’s near-exclusive relationship with Hizbollah.
Iran has backed Hizbollah for more than 40 years, building it up to become the crown jewel in its regional network of allied forces in the region and Lebanon’s dominant military and political force.
But the militant group was weakened by last year’s war with Israel, in which many of its longtime political and military leaders were killed. It has since begun regrouping and naming new leaders to key posts, but how much military might it still possesses is in doubt.
Hizbollah’s many critics have long campaigned for the group to relinquish its weapons. But the group has used violence to crush dissent, with the conversation only resuming following the group’s defeat last year.
When they came to power this year, Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed to monopolise weapons in the hands of the Lebanese state. However, the government has not yet expressed a willingness to take Hizbollah’s weapons by force, and negotiations with the group have made very little progress.
In remarks to reporters following a separate meeting with Nabih Berri, whose Amal movement is a long-standing ally of Hizbollah, Larijani said that Tehran did not interfere and respected Lebanon’s sovereignty.
But he also accused the US of commanding Beirut to implement a “foreign plan”, and reiterated his country’s opposition to it.
“Iran didn’t bring any plan to Lebanon, the US did. Those intervening in Lebanese affairs are those dictating plans and deadlines,” said Larijani, adding that Lebanon should not “mix its enemies with its friends”.
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