Iran's acting foreign minister begins visit to Lebanon
Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani began an official visit to Lebanon on Monday by meeting with caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. He later met with Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Bagheri Kani replaced the late foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who died last month in a helicopter crash in Iran along with president Ebrahim Raisi and other passengers.
“We agreed on an initiative to hold an emergency meeting for the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in order to take a collective step aimed at halting the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip,” Bagheri Kani said after the meeting.
“The firm relations between Iran and Lebanon are an essential indicator for stability in the region,” the Iranian official said.
“There is cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Lebanon, and Iran has always sought to achieve security and stability in Lebanon and to enhance the Lebanese people’s advancement and prosperity,” Bagheri Kani added.
“Resistance is the basis of firmness and stability in the region and we tackled the developments in Gaza and Rafah,” he went on to say, noting that “the main objective behind the visit is to express gratitude and appreciation to the Lebanese people and government for their participation in the funeral of the Iranian president and foreign minister.”
Bou Habib for his part said they discussed the situation in the south, explaining to Bagheri Kani “the sustainable solutions that can restore security in the country.”
“The Iranian minister stressed his country’s keenness on the return of stability in Lebanon,” Bou Habib added, noting that he emphasized “Lebanon’s stance that rejects war.”
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that Bagheri Kani would visit Lebanon and then Syria “to meet with the two countries’ officials as well as the officials of the resistance front to discuss ways to counter (Israel).”
Iran backs a number of armed factions in the region, of which Lebanon's Hezbollah is widely seen as the most powerful.
Hezbollah has been clashing with Israeli forces along the Lebanon-Israel border since October, against the backdrop of Israel’s war against the allied Hamas group in Gaza. The cross-border fighting has intensified in recent weeks, since Israel's incursion into the key town of Rafah in southern Gaza.
The border fighting has killed more than 400 people on the Lebanese side — most of them militants but also including more than 70 civilians and noncombatants — and at least 15 soldiers and 10 civilians on the Israeli side.
The danger of a direct conflict between Iran and Israel has also risen since Oct. 7.
An Israeli airstrike on an Iranian consulate in Syria in April triggered a series of escalatory attacks between Iran and Israel that threatened to set off a wider war, although the two regional archrivals have recently seemed to dial back tensions.
Source: Naharnet, Associated Press
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