Iran backs any agreement over new president in Lebanon: FM
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran strongly supports any agreement between the political parties in Lebanon regarding the election of a new president.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib in Beirut on Thursday, Amir-Abdollahian said Iran wants nothing but good for Lebanon, and called on Lebanese political parties to accelerate the political process and elect a new president.
He also called on “all foreign parties to support the elections in Lebanon without interfering in the Arab country’s domestic affairs.”
The Lebanese caretaker foreign minister told reporters, “I am optimistic that every regional agreement and any deal between regional countries is good for Lebanon.”
“The agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia is important for peace in the region,” Bou Habib said.
He was referring to a recent rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh.
The deep divisions in Lebanon have left the country without a president since the term of former president Michel Aoun ended in late October. Since then, the Lebanese parliament has failed to elect a new president.
Since late 2019, Lebanon has been mired in a deep financial crisis that has caused the Lebanese pound to lose around 90 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar and led its banking system to collapse, plunging the bulk of Lebanese people into poverty.
The economic and financial crisis is mostly linked to the sanctions that the United States and its allies have imposed on Lebanon and the West’s intervention in the Arab nation’s domestic affairs.
Amir-Abdollahian arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday for a two-day visit. He held talks with senior Lebanese officials, including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Secretary-General of the Hezbollah movement Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Before his visit to Lebanon, Amir-Abdollahian traveled to Oman for high-level talks with the Arab country’s officials.