Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Friday, January 10, 2025
From the Liveblog of
Friday, January 10, 2025
Iran’s Pezeshkian welcomes Aoun’s election, says unity in Lebanon will ‘defeat’ Israel
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian welcomes the election of his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun after the country went more than two years without a head of state, saying unity will “defeat” Israel.
“There is no doubt that reinforcement of stability and unity will defeat the greed of the Zionist enemy against Lebanese territory,” Pezeshkian says in a message to Aoun published by the official IRNA news agency after his election on Thursday.
Aoun, widely seen as the preferred candidate of the US and Saudi Arabia, was elected after the candidate backed by Iranian proxy Hezbollah withdrew from the race on Wednesday.
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.
