Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a meeting with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on June 23, 2025. (Credit: Sergei Karpukhin/AFP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran is "not interfering in Lebanon’s internal affairs" and is "ready to cooperate with Saudi Arabia to help resolve the Lebanese file," in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat published Wednesday.
Araghchi made the comments while attending an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers on Gaza, held in Jeddah.
"Tehran is not interfering, but that does not prevent us from expressing our opinions and stances, and this is what all countries are doing. Saudi Arabia, for example, is expressing its viewpoint on Lebanon, and that is not considered interference,” Araghchi said.
He stated that interference comes from other sources.
“The real interference is by those who are occupying Lebanese land or proposing bizarre plans for undermining and subjugating Lebanon,” the Iranian minister added.
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack stated Tuesday from Baabda Palace that "Israel is ready to withdraw from southern Lebanon but wants to see concrete measures," thus urging Lebanese authorities to implement the disarmament of Hezbollah, which continues to oppose it, nearly nine months to the day after the cease-fire between the two countries took effect following a devastating 13-month war.
Araghchi reiterated that any decision on Hezbollah’s arms lies solely with the Lebanese.
“Hezbollah has announced a proposal based on national dialogue to determine the security strategy for Lebanon with the participation of all components, and we’re sure of one reality: Israel wants all of the region’s countries to be weak, disarmed, scattered and brawling,” he said.
“It is true that over the past months the resistance suffered blows and damage and they think that it has become weak, that’s why they want to remove its arms, but Hezbollah’s disarmament is a plan that is 100 percent Israeli, and I reiterate that the decision in this regard belongs to Hezbollah, the Lebanese government and the Lebanese themselves, whereas we only express our opinion,” Araghchi went on to say.
The Lebanese government tasked the army at the beginning of August to develop, by the end of the month, a plan to disarm Hezbollah and other militias before the end of the year, but the party continues to refuse to surrender its arsenal. "No one wants a civil war," the U.S. envoy also noted, while Hezbollah's Secretary General Naim Qassem had raised the threat of one after the government's decision.
'I have no doubt that Saudi Arabia wants to help'
Araghchi revealed that he had held constructive discussions with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in Jeddah, signaling potential cooperation between Tehran and Riyadh over Lebanon.
“Yes, there are disagreements, but we talked calmly and in a positive atmosphere. We are ready to continue this discussion and dialogue with the Saudi side until we reach a point that can help resolve this file,” Araghchi said.
“I have no doubt that Saudi Arabia wants to help the Lebanese people, and so do we, but the tools and means can be different. I am, however, full of hope that we can reach a common point,” he added.
Araghchi warned that Israel is seeking to replicate in Lebanon the same destabilization it caused in Syria.
A man was killed in an Israeli strike on a village in southern Syria on Tuesday, a day after an Israeli incursion into the region that Damascus denounced. Since an Islamist coalition overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on the country with which it is technically at war, while launching a dialogue with the new authorities.
“This is the scenario Israel seeks to implement in Lebanon, and Hezbollah’s resistance thwarted it. While the resistance has suffered attacks and damage recently, they think it has weakened. That is why they want to disarm it. But disarming Hezbollah is 100 percent an Israeli plan. The decision belongs to Hezbollah, the Lebanese government, and the Lebanese themselves; we only express our opinion,” he concluded.
