US Mideast envoy hopeful Saudi-Iran détente will help Lebanon, region
The Biden administration is hopeful that warming ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia will help deescalate conflicts and crises in Lebanon and across the Middle East, a senior U.S. diplomat Barbara Leaf said.
Earlier this month, Riyadh and Tehran agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations after seven years of rupture — a move that stirred cautious optimism across the region.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran had agreed to stop arming Tehran's allies in Yemen — the Shiite Houthi rebels who are fighting a Saudi-led coalition in the Arab world's most impoverished country — as part of the deal.
The Saudi-Iran rapprochement could also help cash-strapped Lebanon, Leaf said, where both Riyadh and Tehran wield political and economic influence.
The tiny Mediterranean country is in the grips of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement.
Leaf, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, called on Lebanon to follow through on economic reforms it had agreed to with the International Monetary Fund over a year ago.
“There is no escaping the fact Lebanon is sinking into a deeper and deeper economic crisis,” Leaf said. She spoke at a virtual news conference after visiting Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon and Tunisia.
Since securing the deal, Lebanese officials have made limited progress in fixing the ailing banking system and reforming the country's barely functioning public electricity system. Lebanon is also without an elected president.
Source: Associated Press
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