Bustros Palace questions Iranian chargé d'affaires

BEIRUT — After being summoned the previous day by Foreign Minister Joe Rajji on instructions from the government, Iran's chargé d'affaires in Lebanon, Toufic Samadi, was questioned Friday at Bustros Palace.

This action followed as Hezbollah and Iran launched a heavy barrage of missiles toward Israel on Wednesday. The Israeli state had killed several members of the al-Qods force of the Revolutionary Guards in an airstrike on the Ramada Hotel in Raouche, Beirut, on Monday.

To try to contain the escalation, the government had already ordered the arrest and expulsion of anyone on Lebanese soil found to be linked to the Revolutionary Guards, and required that Iranian nationals must now obtain a visa to come to Lebanon.

These decisions were made after Iran threatened to strike Israeli embassies "anywhere in the world" if its own mission in Beirut came under attack. The Israeli army had given Iranian diplomats present in Lebanon a 24-hour ultimatum to leave the country, "or risk being targeted."

According to a statement from Bustros Palace, Samadi was received by the ministry’s secretary general, Ambassador Issa Abdelsater, who questioned him about statements from the Iranian embassy in Lebanon and Iran’s representative to the United Nations, particularly their "claim that the four Iranians killed in a hotel in the Raouche area held diplomatic status and that their presence on Lebanese territory was fully known to and approved by the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which the ministry formally denies and considers to be contrary to the truth."

Abdelsater presented him with "a series of examples proving Iran’s non-compliance with decisions of the Lebanese government, the latest being the statement from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps mentioning joint operations with Hezbollah." He also requested official written responses to this issue and to other points raised.

Bustros Palace then handed the Iranian chargé d'affaires a written note in which the state affirms its "categorical rejection of any interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs, while reiterating its full commitment to the provisions of international law and insisting that it will only accept relations with Tehran based on equality and reciprocity."