Matar Denies Kerry's Remarks over Presidential Election

Beirut Maronite Bishop Boulos Matar denied on Sunday that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry informed him that Washington is optimistic that a new head of state would be elected within two months after a nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is reached.

“Kerry didn't inform me when I met with him in Paris that a president would be elected within two months,” Matar said in comments to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

He stressed that the meeting was “accidental” and lasted not more than 4 minutes.

Al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported earlier that Matar and Kerry held a 45-minute meeting on Saturday in the French capital Paris.

Sources told the newspaper that Kerry clarified to Matar that “Washington is optimistic that a nuclear deal with Iran could help in resolving the Lebanese presidential crisis within two month.”

The sources noted that “President Barack Obama keen to end the standoff with Iran over the nuclear crisis,” revealing that Saudi Arabia is completely aware of the details of the agreement with Tehran and the stages it reached.

Kerry asked Matar to convey his message to Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

Lebanon has been without a head state since May when the term of President Michel Suleiman ended without the election of his successor.

Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps have thwarted the elections.

Saudi Arabia and the west continuously express their support to the March 14 alliance, while Iran voices its support to the March 8 coalition, in particular Hizbullah.

The U.S. secretary of state spent three days in Switzerland earlier this week huddled with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the latest round of intense negotiations seeking to hammer out a deal as a March 31 deadline looms.

Fears have been raised both in Europe and Israel that the deal could leave much of Iran's uranium enrichment capability in place -- in particular that Tehran would still have thousands of centrifuges which spin uranium gas into high-grade fissile material capable of fueling a nuclear weapon.

Iran has long denied seeking to arm itself with an atomic bomb, insisting its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes.