The Iranian envoy Ali Larijani. (Credit: @IranEmbassyLB/X)
Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will arrive on Saturday to Beirut to participate in the ceremonies marking the first anniversary of the assassination of former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, his slain successor Hashem Saffieddine, "and a group of their noble companions," the Iranian embassy in Beirut said on X Friday.
"During the visit, Larijani will hold meetings with senior Lebanese officials to discuss bilateral relations as well as regional and international developments of mutual interest," the tweet said.
One of the top commanders of the Quds Force, the elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards — the ideological army of the Islamic Republic of Iran — Abbas Nilforoushan, was killed on Sept. 27, 2024, in the southern suburbs of Beirut alongside Nasrallah.
This visit comes amidst tensions in Lebanon after Hezbollah projected images of the party's former leader Hassan Nasrallah onto Beirut’s Raouche Rock during a public commemoration event, despite a ban issued days earlier by Beirut's governor.
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'Great treasure for Islamic world, Shiism and Lebanon '
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, paid tribute in a speech Tuesday to the memory of Nasrallah, who was killed in massive Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs nearly a year ago, on Sept. 27, 2024.
He described Nasrallah as a "great treasure for the Islamic world, Shiism and Lebanon ... The wealth created by Hassan Nasrallah, including within Hezbollah, remains and continues, and it must not be neglected, neither in Lebanon nor beyond," according to the text reported by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Joe Rajji responded to remarks made by Iran’s Supreme Leader. On his X page, he reiterated that “the only legitimate authority in Lebanon remains the government and its decisions, which are irrevocable, foremost among them the decision to establish the state’s monopoly on weapons and to extend the state’s sovereignty over its entire territory.”
He also emphasized that “the Lebanese Army is and will always remain the only legitimate institution and the main defender of Lebanon, its people and its sovereignty.”
In mid-August, Ali Larijani had clearly conveyed Tehran's order to Hezbollah: Lebanon's rule that only the state can have weapons must be ignored, as the Cabinet had just approved a week before a law to gain back state monopoly on weapons.
