This was reported by the Iranian Tasnim News Agency on Thursday, highlighting Amani’s statement that Larijani held a series of candid meetings with the President and political leaders from various segments of the Lebanese population. The Iranian ambassador noted that the meeting with the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, was exceptional, as was the meeting with Sheikh Naim Qassem, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah.
Iranian national security and the special envoy of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Larijani, visited the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Wednesday, carrying Iranian messages to the Lebanese government. This visit comes at a sensitive time, as internal discussions about confining weapons to the Lebanese state are intensifying amid international and regional pressures, and shifts in the regional balance of power, especially after the decline of Iranian influence in the Syrian arena.
The messages carried clear signals from Tehran, but they met with a firm Lebanese response from the top political leadership, with President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam affirming that sovereignty is a red line and that weapons of any party outside the state are unacceptable, in what seemed like an attempt to establish new rules for relations with Iran.
Larijani’s visit follows a series of Iranian statements criticizing the government’s decision to disarm Hezbollah, which was condemned by Lebanese officials. Last Tuesday, the Lebanese government tasked the country’s army with devising an implementation plan to confine weapons to legitimate forces by the end of the current year.
