Zarif Meets Hariri, Berri, Salam, Says Iran Ready to Cooperate with 'All Lebanese Sects'
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced Tuesday that Tehran is willing to cooperate with “all Lebanese sects and components,” on the second day of an official visit to Lebanon.
“We are fully ready to cooperate with the brotherly Lebanese people and all its sects and components,” said Zarif after talks with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri at the Center House.
“The approach of wisdom, rationality and democracy has triumphed in the Lebanese political arena,” he noted.
The Iranian visitor also said that he expressed to Hariri Tehran's “determination to cooperate and show openness towards the brotherly Lebanese republic in all fields, during the current government's term as well as under the next government's term.”
Turning to the regional developments, Zarif said he discussed with Hariri the various conflicts in the region and stressed the need to “reconcile political viewpoints among the various regional forces in order to find the appropriate political solutions.”
Speaking after talks with caretaker Prime Minister Tammam Salam earlier in the day, Zarif called for a speedy formation of the new government.
And after talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh, the top Iranian diplomat said the parliament speaker's role is “essential and constructive.”
“We support his national approach and we hope that the Lebanese government will be formed soon,” he added.
Zarif had held talks on Monday with President Michel Aoun and caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil.
Aoun, who is allied to Iran-backed Hizbullah, was elected last week as Lebanon's 13th president, which ended around two and a half years of presidential and political vacuum.
Aoun's election and Hariri's appointment as PM-designate have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees.
The process of forming a government could take months, with horsetrading likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the finance, defense and energy ministries.
Hariri is likely to struggle with his government's policy statement, which will have to make reference to Israel, as well as the war in Syria, both potential flashpoints with Hizbullah.
08 November 2016, 15:44
35
Your cooperation should be with the government and not sects.
08 November 2016, 17:55
52
You should then take sectarianism out of your Constitution. Article 24 is an interesting contrast to Iran's Council of Guardians or whatever it is that vets candidates for elections. Iran is under attack, it is authorized to use martial law restrictions on civil liberties (like the US during the Civil War when habeus corpus was suspended by Lincoln). Lebanon's case is that the foreign attackers have taken over the government since the day they gave it its independence by favoring the Christian minority.
08 November 2016, 18:00
42
This whole government and countrys politics are based on sects, what is your point?
08 November 2016, 19:06
41
Just a minute, you forgot about Saudi Arabia arming the failed Mostaqbal militias in the 2008 clashes?
Saudi Arabia still arms the Salafi rebels in Syria too, so yes Saudi Arabia does arm secterian groups in Lebanon aswell.
Their fighters are just not as good as the Resistance.
08 November 2016, 22:31
22
I hit a nerve here again, you people are still ashamed about your well deserved defeat in 2008.
Well the same militias in Tripoli that fought Jabal Mohsen for centuries, are all armed by Saudi Arabia and they too joined the clashes in 2008 in Beirut, you have many armed salafi gangs armed by Saudis that also were send into Syria during the early stages of Syrian war.
With or without Russia, the Resistance will fight to the end against the endless swarms and hordes of Salafis that your Saudi Israeli kingdom pours arms and dollars into.
Your Israeli plots will be defeated, Idlib will burn to ashes when Aleppo is liberated.
