It didn’t take long after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi invited his Lebanese counterpart, Yousef Raji, to visit Tehran for Raji to decline the offer.
Raji, who said current circumstances were behind his decision not to travel to Iran, instead proposed holding the meeting “in a neutral third country to be agreed upon.”
He stressed that this “does not mean a refusal to engage in dialogue, but rather that a conducive atmosphere is not available.”
Araghchi had invited Raji last week to visit Tehran in the near future to discuss bilateral relations.
Raji said Lebanon was ready “to establish a new era of constructive relations with Iran, provided that these relations are based solely on mutual respect, absolute respect for the independence and sovereignty of each country, and strict noninterference in domestic affairs in any form and under any pretext.”
In a clear reference to calls to disarm Hezbollah, Raji emphasized his “firm conviction that building any strong state cannot happen unless the state exercises sole monopoly over the right to bear arms and has exclusive authority over decisions of war and peace.”
Araghchi’s position comes as Lebanon faces intense internal debate over disarming the Hezbollah, implementing the “cease-fire plan” between Lebanon and Israel, and enforcing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.
At the official level, the position has remained focused on the need to keep all weapons under the state’s possession and control and to reject any interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs.
Raji’s remarks followed an August visit to Beirut by Ali Larijani, secretary-general of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, during which he met with the president, prime minister and parliament speaker. At the time, his relationship with Raji appeared strained.
No meeting was held between the two.
While Larijani said he did not have enough time to see Raji, the Lebanese foreign minister responded that “even if I had the time, I would not have met him.”
Araghchi had expressed hope last June that a new chapter could be opened in relations with Lebanon. It appears that the moment for such a step has not yet arrived and that its arrival depends on multiple , most notably of which is Iran’s position on Hezbollah’s disarmament.
