Iran International:

Maryam Sinaiee 

Lebanon is one of Iran's key launchpads for regional influence via its longtime armed ally Hezbollah, but Beirut dealt a deep cut this week when its foreign minister curtly declined an invitation to visit Tehran.

The government has bristled over Iran's defiant stance on a bid to disarm Hezbollah, badly mauled in a war with Israel in 2024, by year's end.

Youssef Raji declined Abbas Araghchi's invitation to visit Iran in a written reply on Wednesday. Without dwelling on the specifics, Raji said the circumstances were not right but that talks could occur in a "neutral third country."

Asserting the state's right to have a monopoly over arms on its territory, Raji cited what he called Lebanon's insistence on its sovereignty and independence.

Araghchi responded a day later, also on X, in remarks that clearly reflected Tehran’s irritation. Raji’s decision “not to welcome Iran's reciprocation of his warm hospitality,” he wrote, “is bemusing.”

He added that "foreign ministers of nations with brotherly and full diplomatic relations need no ‘neutral’ venue to meet," adding he would gladly accept his Lebanese counterpart’s invitation to go to Beirut.

Official Iran–Lebanon relations have been tense over Hezbollah and disarmament.

Contradictory Iranian statements have intensified the strain: Araghchi emphasized non-interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs in August, but four days later Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, declared Hezbollah “more essential than water and bread” for the Lebanese and reiterated Tehran’s support.

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