Zarif: Hizbullah role in Islamic world source of pride for all

Talking in a working breakfast in the Iranian embassy here on Tuesday, he described Lebanon as an important country in region as well as the Arab world and said the election of the new president in Lebanon indicated its unparallelled political growth and development in the region. 

According to IRNA, he cited the Lebanon developments as a successful case of Iranian foreign policy relating to the country as Iran, defying all international pressures, vigorously rejected any kind of foreign interference in Lebanon’s domestic affairs because it believed efforts to impose views on the people from outside resources would be met by public resistance. 

He said the political convergence which happened in Lebanon was a remarkable achievement not just for a certain group but for the whole nation.

Zarif also noted that given Iran’s special conditions in post-JCPOA era which has created sensitivities for certain countries, some neighboring countries have developed a set of false worries compelling them to set the whole region into fire with innocent people in Yemen and Syria paying for their destructive sense of fear.

He said he hoped such countries would quickly come to the conclusion that their continuing with such policies will bring nothing but destruction for them.

He said the JCPOA has created many opportunities for Iran by removing obstacles on exercising its power.

Zarif arrived in Beirut at the head of a politico-economic delegation on Monday for talks with top-ranking Lebanese officials.

The visit to Beirut by Zarif comes a week after Michel Aoun became the Lebanese president, putting an end to a political stand-off that had left the post empty for more than two years. 

Apart from meeting with President Aoun in his Beirut visit, the foreign minister was scheduled to meet with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, incumbent prime minister Tammam Salam and Saad Hariri, who has been asked by President Aoun to form a new government. 

Zarif will also have a meeting with his Lebanese counterpart Gebran Bassil. 

He is also scheduled to meet with representatives of Lebanese national groups and Beirut-based Palestinian resistance groups. 

This is Zarif's third visit to Lebanon since he took office three years ago.

After his one-day visit to Lebanon, the foreign minister will begin his tour of Eastern Europe which will take him to Romania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.