Lebanese diplomatic chief Abdallah Bou Habib (second from right) talks with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri in Beirut, Feb. 9, 2023. (Credit: Twitter/@Mofalebanon)
BEIRUT — During his visit to Beirut, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri on Thursday urged the Lebanese political class and the people to "build a future away from external dictates."
His remarks come one day after his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, during which Bagheri reaffirmed Tehran's support for "the Lebanese Resistance" — a reference to its ally, Hezbollah.
During a meeting on Thursday with Lebanon's Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, in the presence of Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Bagheri said he was "firmly convinced that the political elite and the Lebanese people have the awareness, vision and wisdom to build a future for this brotherly country," according to the ministry's Twitter account.
He added that this future could come "through the independent and free Lebanese national will, far from external dictates."
"The bilateral relations between Lebanon and the Islamic Republic of Iran are historic and deep," Bagheri said Thursday. "They allow our two governments and our two peoples to strengthen the strength of these relations and solidarity on all fields, more than ever."
Bagheri's trip comes less than a month after Iranian diplomatic chief Hossein Amir-Abdollahian visited Beirut, when he said his country "does not interfere in the internal affairs" of Lebanon.