Iran says Hezbollah disarmament Lebanon’s internal affair, Tehran not to meddle
Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Lebanon Mojtaba Amani said the disarmament of the Hezbollah resistance movement is an internal issue of the Arab country and that Tehran will not meddle in such affairs.
“The Lebanese government is obligated to consult with various parties regarding factions, the resistance and its weapons, and related issues. These issues are internal affairs of Lebanon, in which we do not interfere,” Amani said.
“There is a legitimate party with decades of experience and weapons,” he added, referring to the Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement.
“These issues are for the Lebanese government and its institutions to discuss and agree on any matter.”
Iran’s ambassador to Beirut had earlier dismissed media stories that he had been summoned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon over his comments regarding the new Lebanese government’s push to disarm Hezbollah.
“Our relations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon continue normally and there has been no talk of summoning,” he said.
The ambassador said the “incorrect and deviated” reports about sour relations between Iran and Lebanon are part of a propaganda aimed at displaying the Israeli regime as a winner.
He underlined that Iran would respect any agreement among the Lebanese institutions, resistance and parties, saying, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is bound to support the oppressed, regardless of their faith or sect.”
Rejecting the “illusion” that the resistance in Lebanon has been weakened, Amani said it has been the Zionist regime that has suffered defeats after failing to reach its objectives and has been forced to make a deal with Lebanon and Hamas.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Friday that the Hezbollah resistance movement will not hand over its weapons before Israel fulfills its ceasefire agreement obligations.
“We will not hand over the weapons now before the implementation of the terms requested from the enemy” as per the ceasefire agreement, Berri said in an interview.
“Our weapons are our cards which we will not give up without an actual implementation of the ceasefire agreement and consequently heading to a dialogue over their fate.”
The remarks come amid the regime’s daily violations of the ceasefire agreement that was clinched late last year with the aim of ending Tel Aviv’s deadly escalation against Lebanon that had claimed the lives of around 4,000 people throughout more than a year.