Lebanon FM turns down invitation to Tehran ‘under the current circumstances’

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi announces on X that he declined an invitation from his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi to visit Tehran.

“I could not accept his invitation to visit Tehran under the current circumstances,” says Raggi, without elaborating.

In his response to Araghchi, Raggi says, “I explained that this does not mean a refusal to engage in dialogue, but rather that the conditions are not conducive to this visit.”

Raggi’s rejection of Araghchi’s invitation comes after the Lebanese minister said last week that Beirut was seeking to disarm Hezbollah, but that Iran, Hezbollah’s backer, had the final word on the matter.

On X today, Raggi says he stressed in his response to Araghchi that “a strong state can only be built when the state alone, through its national army, has the exclusive right to carry weapons and to decide on issues of war and peace” — a veiled threat to Hezbollah’s extensive arsenal.

Raggi also says he invited Araghchi “to meet in a neutral third country that we both agree on,” and adds that the Iranian foreign minister “is always welcome to visit Lebanon.”

“I also expressed readiness to open a new chapter in relations between Lebanon and Iran, based strictly on mutual respect for each country’s independence and sovereignty, and on noninterference in each other’s internal affairs in any way,” says Raggi.