Between Lebanon and Iran, a mixed reception to Iranian president's death

“Sincere condolences,” say some, “not on our behalf,” reply others. On the Lebanese political scene, reactions to the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raissi in a helicopter crash on Sunday were far from unanimous.

To express the mourning of the Lebanese state to the Islamic Republic, the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, traveled to Teheran on Wednesday, where he was received overnight by the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after attending the funeral of President Raissi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was also killed in the crash. “It was an honor for me to know Ebrahim Raisi before he became president. It was our duty to stand by Iran, which has supported and continues to support Lebanon, to offer our condolences on behalf of Lebanon and the Lebanese,” Berry told reporters on his arrival in the Iranian capital. According to information from the state-run National News Agency (NNA), the Lebanese delegation also held talks with the Islamic Republic's new interim president, Mohammad Mokhber.

'Friends of Lebanon'

In Lebanon, a three-day national mourning period was declared on Monday by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Lebanese flags were flown at half-mast over public buildings, while “the usual radio and TV programs [were] adapted to the circumstances.”

Iran's Supreme Leader thanked Lebanon for its condolences and for the three days of “national mourning.” “The announcement of national mourning in Lebanon is a sign of total harmony between the two countries. We consider our relationship with our Lebanese brothers and Hassan Nasrallah as one of kinship and brotherhood,” wrote Ali Khamenei on his X account. “Lebanon's involvement in the cause of Palestine and Gaza has had a profound impact. Had Lebanon not taken such a step, it would certainly have suffered far greater losses,” he added.

Mikati personally went to the Iranian embassy to offer his condolences to Ambassador Mojtaba Amani. Many other Lebanese officials and political party leaders followed suit. Among them were a delegation from Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the Free Patriotic Movement led by its leader Gebran Bassil, the Progressive Socialist Party and former Presidents of the Republic Michel Aoun and Emile Lahoud.

The tribute to the two deceased Iranian leaders also included a poster campaign in several Hezbollah-controlled areas, including Beirut's southern suburbs, the Jabal Amel region, the outskirts of Nabatieh and southern Saida, in Ghazieh and Zahrani, in southern Lebanon, where signs bearing the effigy of Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian were posted here and there, according to information from L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent and images from AFP.

A motorcyclist on May 23, 2024 in Nabatiye, South Lebanon, passes a poster bearing the image of Iranian President Ebrahim Raissi, who was killed in a helicopter crash. (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)

'Persian colony'

This exchange of pleasantries did not fail to rattle the teeth of the opposition and Hezbollah's opponents, who denounce Iranian influence over Lebanon. “The colony of Lebanon thanks the great and immortal Persian Empire for its fatherly feelings,” Peter Germanos, former government commissioner at the military court, quipped on X.

Lebanese Forces MP from Baabda Pierre Bou Assi questioned the Iranian Supreme Leader: “Why didn't you fight this battle with your army, your people and your resistance (rather than through Lebanon)?”

“Are we going to restrict and close administrations and institutions for three days for a president who has massacred his people and dragged Lebanon into the axis of terrorism and destruction?” denounced Nadim Gemayel, a Kataeb MP.

“Lebanon is under Iranian occupation. The opposition must start by recognizing this and reconstituting a national quorum to put an end to it," commented Fares Souhaid, a former member of parliament and fierce opponent of Hezbollah.

Opposition Syrian journalist Siba Madwar echoed this view, saying that Khamenei had thanked Hassan Nasrallah by name for announcing three days of mourning rather than Prime Minister Mikati, because “he doesn't see Lebanon as a state, but only as a militia based in the southern suburbs of Beirut.” He added: “God help the Lebanese.”

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.