President Aoun reaffirms Lebanon’s rejection of foreign interference during talks with Iranian official
BEIRUT: Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, affirmed on Wednesday Tehran’s support for the Lebanese government and its decisions, emphasizing that his statement “expresses the official Iranian position toward Lebanon.”
However, he pointed out that “the US is the one that came up with a proposal paper for powerful and independent countries in the region, which do not need to take orders from across the oceans.”
His statements came during his visit to Beirut after diplomatic tensions were stirred by statements by Iranian officials in which they declared their rejection of plans to disarm Hezbollah. The Iran-backed group was severely weakened by the assassination of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, along with senior officials and the destruction of its military infrastructure during the war with Israel.
Nawaf Salam, prime minister of Lebanon, issued a decision last week to restrict arms to the Lebanese state and to assign to the Lebanese army the task of developing an implementation plan to present to the Cabinet by the end of the month. He called for the decision to be implemented before the end of the year.
