Iran says its expelled ambassador will not depart Lebanon as political tensions soar | EUROtoday

Iran on Monday defied Lebanon’s expulsion order for its ambassador by saying he would keep, additional growing tensions in a rustic within the crosshairs of the most recent preventing between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel.

Lebanon had declared Ambassador Mohammad Reza Shibani “persona non grata” in an effort to weaken Iran’s diplomatic presence and have a charge d’affairs at its embassy instead. But the deadline to leave the country was Sunday.

“Our embassy in Lebanon is active,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told journalists. “Our ambassador, following remarks made by relevant Lebanese bodies and the conclusions reached, will continue his mission in Beirut and he is still there.”

Lebanese officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not clear what Lebanon would might do next or how diplomatic relations might be affected. The Iranian ambassador is reportedly in the embassy, where he is believed to have diplomatic immunity.

The Lebanese Hezbollah militant group entered the Iran war by firing at Israel, which has responded by invading southern Lebanon and bombing parts of the capital, Beirut. Health officials in Lebanon say over 1,200 people have been killed, with over 1 million people displaced.

“This morning, the Iranian ambassador is drinking his coffee in Beirut and making a mockery of the ‘host’ country,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Monday on X. “Lebanon is a virtual country that is effectively occupied by Iran.”

Lebanon banned actions by Iran’s Guards and Hezbollah

Lebanon, beneath growing stress to disarm Hezbollah, earlier this month introduced a ban on its navy actions in addition to these by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard. Then got here the ambassador’s expulsion order.

Hezbollah known as it a “reckless and reprehensible measure” and “a clear capitulation to external pressures and dictates.” It organized a rally close to the Iranian embassy to again the ambassador.

A Lebanese diplomatic official mentioned that over the previous week, Iran “put extreme pressure” on the federal government and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a key political ally of Hezbollah, in an bid to reverse the choice.

Beirut is anxious that Iran’s inclusion of the battle in Lebanon amongst its circumstances for dialogue with Washington would have an effect on Lebanon’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the official added, talking on situation of anonymity in keeping with laws.

Hezbollah says Iran has been a key ally of the group that claims it serves as a navy deterrent to Israel whereas offering social companies, largely for Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim neighborhood.

But critics say Hezbollah’s armed presence, probably the most highly effective within the nation, and its impartial decision-making violates Lebanese sovereignty and compromises its relationship with different Arab nations and the West.

Diplomatic efforts are in danger

The rift has weakened Lebanon’s efforts to discover a option to finish the battle.

President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, whereas essential of Israel’s invasion, have condemned Hezbollah’s firing of rockets in direction of Israel, in solidarity with Iran, that sparked the most recent preventing.

Even earlier than the battle, Aoun and Salam had been scrambling to win belief that they might disarm Hezbollah with out aggressive confrontation. The militant group was weakened by its earlier battle with Israel, and plenty of noticed an opportunity to behave. Aoun and Salam got here to energy not lengthy after the final battle led to November 2024, pledging to disarm Hezbollah and all non-state actors.

But frictions inside Lebanon are worsening, particularly after Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji, a staunch opponent of Hezbollah, introduced the expulsion order for the Iranian ambassador.

“Don’t play with fire because this fire will burn you, your people, and those behind you,” Mahmoud Qamati, a senior official in Hezbollah’s political bureau, mentioned in a current fiery tackle aimed toward Rajji, who’s a cupboard choose by the Christian Lebanese Forces occasion, Hezbollah’s bitter rival.