Geagea suggests govt. call for Arab, GCC meetings on Iran 'threats'

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday said the Lebanese government should “seriously think of calling for Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council urgent sessions to discuss the issue of the Iranian threat to Lebanon,” in the wake of a flurry of stances by Iranian officials over the issue of Hezbollah’s disarmament.

The government must also consider “filing a complaint with the U.N. Security Council stating that Iran is intimidating Lebanon to the extent of threatening a direct military intervention,” Geagea added.

“Asserting that the government’s decision on removing arms shall not pass reflects incitement on the one hand and a military intervention threat against the Lebanese government on the other hand, in order to prevent it from enforcing its decision,” Geagea said.

“We do not at all accept that Iran continue to interfere in our domestic affairs, after its meddling over the past 40 years led to Lebanon’s ruin,” the LF leader added.

Iran's top security chief Ali Larijani will visit Lebanon in the coming hours for talks with senior Lebanese officials and figures.

Larijani's trip to Lebanon comes after Tehran expressed strong opposition to a Lebanese government plan to disarm its ally Hezbollah, a stance condemned by Beirut as a "flagrant and unacceptable interference."

"Our cooperation with the Lebanese government is long and deep. We consult on various regional issues," Larijani told state TV before departing.

"In Lebanon, our positions are already clear. Lebanese national unity is important and must be preserved in all circumstances. Lebanon's independence is still important to us and we will contribute to it."

On Monday, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran recognizes Lebanon's "right to defend itself against the aggression of the Zionist regime (Israel)," adding that this would be "impossible without military capabilities and weapons."

Before its war with Israel, Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military. It built its popularity, in part, on resistance to Israel, which occupied southern Lebanon for nearly two decades until 2000.

Now weakened, Hezbollah's grip on power has slipped and the new Lebanese government, backed by the United States, has moved to further restrain it.

On Saturday, Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran's supreme leader, described the plan to disarm Hezbollah as compliance "to the will of the United States and Israel."