Iran denied on Monday an accusation from Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati that it was interfering in Beirut’s internal affairs over remarks attributed to Tehran’s speaker of parliament.
On Thursday, France’s Le Figaro quoted Iran’s Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as saying that his government was ready to negotiate the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which is seen as a precondition for a ceasefire in the ongoing war between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group, an Iranian proxy.
Mikati raised the ire of the Islamic Republic when he described the official’s comments as a “blatant interference in Lebanese affairs and an attempt to establish an unacceptable guardianship over Lebanon.”
“Iran has never had any intention or [taken any] action that could be suspected of interfering in the internal affairs of Lebanon,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said during a weekly news conference.
“We hold discussions with any country that has an initiative and a proposal to end the crimes and aggression against Lebanon and the genocide in Gaza,” said Baghaei, adding that there had been a “misunderstanding” regarding Ghalibaf’s reported remarks.
Iran has in recent days intensified its diplomatic outreach, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visiting multiple countries in the region in what he has said is part of a push for ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza as well as ways to contain the conflicts
