Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, headed to Iraq on Monday, to be followed up by a trip to Lebanon.
The trip is the first undertaken by Larijani since Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian appointed him to be the council’s secretary earlier this month.
In Iraq, Larijani is participating in the signing of a bilateral security agreement between the two majority-Shia nations, who were rivals that engaged in a bitter conflict spanning most of the 1980s.
Speaking of his subsequent trip to Lebanon, Larijani said that Iran’s “cooperation with the Lebanese government is long and deep.”
“We consult on various regional issues,” he said. “In this particular context, we are talking to Lebanese officials and influential figures in Lebanon.”
Larijani’s visit to Lebanon comes shortly after the Lebanese government committed to disarming Hezbollah, a long-time ally of the Iranian regime.
The objectives agreed to by Lebanon on Thursday will achieve “the gradual end of the presence of non-state armed groups in the country, including Hezbollah, both north and south of the Litani River,” while also “ensuring Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese territory and the cessation of all hostilities, including ground, aerial and maritime violations,” Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos said.
After a senior advisor to Iran’s supreme leader publicly criticized the decision, the Lebanese minister of foreign affairs Youssef Raggi said that the comments “represent a flagrant and unacceptable interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs.”
Raggi added that “this is not the first such interference,” saying several officials have made “unwarranted statements regarding Lebanese domestic decisions that are of no concern to the Islamic Republic.”
“The Ministry reminds the leadership in Tehran that Iran would be better served by focusing on the issues of its own people and addressing their needs and aspirations, rather than involving itself in matters that do not concern it,” he emphasized.
Before his trip to Lebanon, Larijani did not publicly express any intention to pressure Lebanon into reversing this decision.
“In Lebanon, our positions are already clear,” he said. “Lebanese national unity is important and must be preserved in all circumstances. Lebanon’s independence is still important to us and we will contribute to it.”
