Tensions Rising Between Iran and Lebanese Government

A recent statement by Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati denouncing what he called "interference" in Lebanon's internal affairs by Iran, has been strongly rejected by Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, who told a weekly press conference that “Iran has never had any intention or [taken any] action that could be suspected of interfering in the internal affairs of Lebanon.” He then condescendingly speculated that Mikati had not understood the statement by Iran's Foreign Ministry that it was ready to negotiate with France over the future of Lebanon.

The statement came last Thursday, from Iran’s Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who told France’s Le Figaro newspaper that the Islamic Republic was ready to negotiate with France over implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The major clauses of the Resolution were never enforced by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and Israel has said that it is now acting to enforce those clauses.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is currently on a tour of regional capitals trying to cast himself as a benevolent mediator who can help lower regional tensions, despite the widely held belief both in the region and the wider world that Iran itself is the source of most of those tensions.