Lebanese leaders firmly rejected any efforts at foreign interference during a visit by Iran’s security chief Wednesday, with the prime minister saying Beirut would “tolerate neither tutelage nor diktat” after Tehran voiced opposition to plans to disarm Hezbollah.
The uncharacteristically blunt remarks hinted at a changed balance of power in a country where Iran has long wielded substantial influence by funding and arming Hezbollah.
The visit by Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani comes after the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise plans to disarm the Tehran-backed militant group by the end of the year.
Last week, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader had said the Islamic republic was “certainly opposed” to the disarmament plan.
“We reject any interference in our internal affairs,” Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday, adding that “it is forbidden for anyone… to bear arms and to use foreign backing as leverage”, according to a statement from his office.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam was equally firm, saying in a statement: “Lebanon will not accept, in any form, any interference in its internal affairs, and expects from the Iranian side a clear and explicit commitment to respect these principles.”
Hezbollah has been a key part of Tehran’s so-called axis of resistance against Israel, but Iran and its allies have suffered a series of blows.
Hezbollah experienced devastating losses, including the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, over more than a year of hostilities with Israel that ended with a November 2024 ceasefire.
A month later, longtime Syrian ruler and Tehran ally Bashar al-Assad was ousted, depriving Hezbollah of its main conduit for weapons and supplies from Iran.
And finally, Israel went to war with Iran itself in June, with the United States stepping in briefly to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.
Ever since last year’s war, Hezbollah’s firm grip on Lebanese politics has been slipping.
– ‘Grave sin’ –
Hezbollah has slammed the government’s new disarmament push as a “grave sin”, while Tehran has also declared its opposition.
But in Beirut, Larijani said that no foreign power should give orders to Lebanon, adding that it was not Iran but the United States that was intervening.
Lebanon’s cabinet recently considered a US proposal that included a timetable for Hezbollah’s disarmament, with Washington pressing Beirut to take action.
“Any decision that the Lebanese government makes in consultation with the resistance is respected by us,” Larijani said.
“The one who interferes in Lebanese affairs is the one who plans for you, gives you a timetable from thousands of kilometres away. We did not give you any plan.”
Salam, however, appeared to make clear the changed nature of the relationship, declaring that “Lebanon’s decisions are made by the Lebanese themselves, who tolerate neither tutelage nor diktat”.
“Lebanon, which was the first defender of the Palestinian cause and paid a heavy price in its confrontation with Israel, has no lessons to receive from anyone,” he continued.
Iran’s government has long portrayed itself as a defender of the Palestinians, with militant group Hamas in Gaza another member of its axis.
– ‘Stand by’ Lebanon –
Before the latest war with Israel, Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.
It long maintained it had to keep its arsenal in order to defend Lebanon from attack, but critics accused it of using its weapons for political leverage.
In Beirut, Larijani vowed continued Iranian support.
“If… the Lebanese people are suffering, we in Iran will also feel this pain and we will stand by the dear people of Lebanon in all circumstances,” Larijani told reporters.
In addition to meeting President Aoun and Prime Minister Salam, Larijani was due to sit down with parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is close to Hezbollah.
He was also expected to visit the grave of Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive Israeli bombing in south Beirut last year.
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© Agence France-Presse
