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Friday, May 22, 2026
Iran condemns US sanctions on ambassador-designate to Lebanon, Hezbollah lawmakers
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The Iranian foreign ministry condemns the sanctions that the US imposed Thursday on Tehran’s ambassador-designate to Lebanon and on lawmakers with Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese proxy.
The ministry in a statement “strongly condemned the illegal and unjustified action by the US Treasury Department in sanctioning Mohammad Reza Raouf Shibani, Iran’s designated ambassador to Beirut.”
The move is “another example of the rogue behavior and disregard of the US ruling establishment for the fundamental principles of international law and the United Nations Charter,” the statement says.
It adds that the sanctions on Hezbollah lawmakers reflect US “complicity” with Israel.
“These despicable measures are aimed at undermining Lebanon’s national sovereignty and sowing discord within Lebanese society, and are a sign of the continued complicity of the US ruling establishment with the aggressive and occupying Zionist regime,” the statement says.
Lebanon had declared the Iranian ambassador-designate persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country in March, but it is not known whether Shibani ever departed from Beirut. The move came after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war when it began striking Israel on March 2, amid the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran that began on February 28.
The Times of Israel Community.