BEIRUT: Lebanon’s foreign ministry on Thursday summoned the Iranian ambassador over comments on “disarmament,” as the issue of disarming Hezbollah gains momentum following a war between the Tehran-backed group and Israel.
In a post on social network X last week, Iranian Ambassador Mojtaba Amani said the “disarmament plan is a clear conspiracy against states”, without saying which or naming Hezbollah.
Iran noted “the gravity of this conspiracy and its danger for the security of the region’s peoples”, Amani wrote, warning “others against falling into the enemy’s trap”.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has pledged to implement a state monopoly on arms.
But it is a “delicate” matter that must be approached through dialogue and carried out when “the circumstances” allow, he said on Sunday.
The United States has been pressing Lebanon’s government to disarm Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday that Amani attended the ministry “upon his summons over his recent public positions”.
He was informed of the need to adhere to principles of “state sovereignty and non-interference in their domestic affairs”, the statement said, pointing to the Vienna Convention.
Hezbollah, long a dominant force in Lebanon, was severely weakened in the latest war with its arch-foe Israel.
The war included an Israeli ground incursion and two months of heavy bombardment that decimated the group’s leadership.
A November truce accord was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and United Nations peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon.
It calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
The Iranian embassy said Amani provided “clarifications” to Lebanese officials, noting that his statements on X were “general… and applied to all countries without exception, including Iran”.
The visit to the ministry sought to avoid any possible “misunderstanding between the two countries” over the post’s content, the embassy said.
On Friday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said the group “will not let anyone disarm” it, adding it was ready for dialogue on a “defence strategy”, “but not under the pressure of occupation” by Israel.
In subsequent comments on Wednesday to Lebanese television channel Al-Jadeed, Amani said disarming Hezbollah was “a Lebanese domestic matter” and Iran would “not interfere” in it.
“We will comply with what the Lebanese institutions decide,” he said, adding that “in Lebanon there is occupation, there are attacks, there is the Israeli danger, there is a group… that wants to defend itself,” he added, referring to Hezbollah.
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Under the truce, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Israel was to withdraw all its forces from south Lebanon, but troops remain in five positions that it deems “strategic”.