Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said upon arrival at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut on Sunday that Lebanon is a country of resistance and a role model for the people in the region.
Zarif told reporters that Lebanon and Iran are facing many common challenges, such as terrorism and takfirism, and these problems are affecting all the peoples of the region and that why why joint efforts must be exerted to fight them.
Iran which backs its proxy Hezbollah usually refers to Sunnis as takfiris, similarly the Sunnis refers to the Shiites as takfiris .
Addressing the situation in Syria Zarif said :
“We stress that the only solution to the Syrian crisis is a political solution and the best way to curb terrorism and takfirism is allowing Syrian people to freely express their opinions through ballot boxes.”
Addressing the fact that Iran has not been invited to the peace talks that will take place in Geneva starting Jan 22 he said .
“We’re not seeking to receive an invitation to the Geneva 2 conference but we would welcome such an invitation” .
Addressing the tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which recenlty pledged 3 billion US dollars to help arm the Lebanese army he said :
“Establishing the best relations with the neighbors is among Iran’s essential principles and we’re seeking to have the best relations with Saudi Arabia because that would positively contribute to peace in the region.”
He made the statement despite the fact that Iran nd its allies Hezbollah and Syria have been recently focusing all their attacks against Saudi Arabia.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah even accused Saudi Arabia of being behind the bombing of the Iranian embassy in Beirut last November.
Addressing the bombing of the embassy Zarif said:
“An Iranian judicial delegation will visit Beirut to probe all the details of the bomb attack on the Iranian embassy in Bir Hassan.” He added:”We congratulate the Lebanese government on the major achievement of arresting the terrorist Majid al-Majid and we laud its efforts in this regard.”
Majid who headed the Abdullah Azzam Brigade, the Al Qaeda linked group that claimed responsibility for the embassy attack has since died of kidney failure and his body was sent to Saudi Arabia for burial on Friday.
Zarif’s visit to Beirut is part of a tour that will also take him to Syria, Jordan and Iraq.
He is scheduled to meet with top Lebanese officials for talks on “the current situations in Lebanon and the region in light of the latest regional developments, especially in Syria, in addition to bilateral ties between Iran and Lebanon,” National News Agency reported.
According to analysts Lebanon has always been a peaceful country that sought to be the primary tourist destination in the region but Hezbollah has turned it into a resistance country with its involvement in the Syrian Civil war and its wars with Israel to fulfill the Iranian agenda for the region.
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