‘Save Lebanon from real foe’: Araghchi hits back at Lebanese president
Iranian officials on Saturday reacted to recent comments made by Lebanese president about Tehran’s alleged influence in the Arab country, with the foreign minister urging him to focus on Lebanon's "real foe" rather than Iran.
"Save Lebanon from your real foe, Mr. President," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X on Saturday, in response to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s remarks during an exclusive interview with CNN a day earlier.
Referring to Israel’s atrocities in Lebanon over the past years, the Iranian top diplomat noted that Aoun's comments overlooked the primary threat facing Lebanon and misidentified the source of the country’s current challenges.
"Based on Mr. Aoun's comments, one would think it is Iran that has occupied one-fifth of Lebanon, displaced one-quarter of the Lebanese people, and is bombing his country on a daily basis," Araghchi said.
‘Bargaining chip’
He further rejected Aoun's claim that Iran was using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the United States, saying, "Had Lebanon been a bargaining chip for Iran, we would have reached a deal long ago."
In the CNN interview on Friday, Aoun delivered a message to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), saying “It's not your country, it's our country,” after the chief commander of the force Brigadier General Esmaeil Qaani said the minimum demand of Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement is a full Israeli withdrawal to the positions it held before the outbreak of the 40-day war.
Aoun further claimed that Iran is treating Lebanon as leverage in its talks with Washington, saying such an approach was "unacceptable."
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began in March after the Lebanese resistance group launched military operations against the Israeli regime in response to its aggression against Iran. A truce to halt the fighting began on April 17, but has never been observed.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei also chided Joseph Aoun for “selling out” those who stand beside him while remaining loyal to the enemies of Lebanon.
In a post on X on Saturday, Baqaei endorsed earlier comments by Araghchi, in which he urged Aoun to focus on Lebanon's "real foe" rather than Iran.
“He sells out those who stand beside him and invests in those who stand against him. He abandons those who supported him and backs those who put him in a difficult position,” Baqaei wrote in Arabic.
Attack on Lebanon’s Army
Despite the so-called ceasefire, Israeli aggression continues unabated. The regime’s forces persist in bombing villages and towns across southern Lebanon, systematically destroying homes, public facilities, and civilian infrastructure.
On Saturday, Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed nine people including three members of the Lebanese military, the Lebanese Army and state media said, days after the two sides reached a new ceasefire deal brokered by the United States.
An airstrike on a vehicle on a road linking the city of Nabatiyeh with the town of Marjayoun killed a brigadier general, a captain and another soldier, the army said, without immediately releasing their names. Another airstrike on the southern village of Saksakiyah killed six people and wounded four, state-run National News Agency said.
“The continued, deliberate, and repeated Israeli aggression against Lebanon, its people and its army only strengthen our resolve, faith and determination,” the army said in its statement.
The war has claimed at least 3,526 lives since March 2, according to the latest figures released by Lebanon's Health Ministry on Thursday.