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Iranian, Lebanese FMs urge settlement of dispute over flights
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Lebanese counterpart Youssef Rajji in a phone conversation on Saturday called for the settlement of issue and expressed their readiness for “constructive talks in good faith.”
On Thursday, Lebanon’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said it had “temporarily rescheduled” some flights including from Iran until February 18 as it was implementing “additional security measures.”
Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, on Friday said that Tehran is trying to restore flights between the two countries, adding that the Lebanese government had requested that another plane replace the Iranian plane to evacuate Lebanese stranded in Iran.
Saeed Chalandari, CEO of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport, said on Friday that Iran had rejected the proposal.
“Naturally, we do not agree to their request, because if there is to be a flight between the two countries, it must be a two-way flight,” Chalandari said.
Lebanon dispatched two planes on Friday from its own national airliner Middle East Airlines to bring the stranded Lebanese home from Iran, but Iran refused to allow the Lebanese aircraft to land on its territory.
Lebanon’s decision sparked a protest by Lebanese people who blocked the Beirut airport road and burned tires to protest the decision.
The developments coincided with Israel’s threats against Iranian planes landing in Lebanon.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee had warned the army was prepared “to thwart” any attempts to transfer funds or weapons to Hezbollah resistance group in Lebanon.
Adraee has claimed that Iran and Hezbollah “have been exploiting... the Beirut international airport through civilian flights, to smuggle funds dedicated to arming” the group.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a statement accused Israel of disrupting flights from Tehran to Beirut.
“The threat by the Zionist regime to a passenger plane carrying Lebanese citizens has disrupted normal flights to Beirut airport,” he said.
Baqaei condemned the Israeli threat as a violation of international law. He also called for the International Civil Aviation Organization and other world bodies “to stop Israel’s dangerous behavior against the safety and security of civil aviation.”