TEHRAN, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Lebanon is not a "bargaining chip" for Iran.
He made the remarks in response to comments by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who slammed Iran for using Lebanon as a "bargaining chip" in negotiations with the United States in an interview with CNN released on Friday.
"Based on Mr. Aoun's comments, one would think it's Iran that has occupied 1/5 of Lebanon, displaced 1/4 of Lebanese and bombing his country on daily basis," Araghchi said on the social platform X.
"Had Lebanon been bargaining chip for Iran, we'd have a deal long ago," he said.
Araghchi called on Aoun to save Lebanon from its "real foe."
In an interview broadcast by Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen on Wednesday, Araghchi warned that Iran would respond if Israel attacked Beirut.
He said Tehran had informed all parties that it would not tolerate an assault on the Lebanese capital and that such a move could trigger a return to war.
On Thursday, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said Israel must immediately stop its attacks against the Lebanese people and withdraw from occupied Lebanese territories.
Several Lebanese military personnel, including an officer, were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a military vehicle on the Khardali-Nabatieh road in south Lebanon, the Lebanese Army said in a statement on Saturday.
In a statement on its official outlet Sepah News, the IRGC reaffirmed that Iran's primary condition for accepting the April 8 truce with the United States and Israel was a comprehensive ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon.
Despite the ceasefire reached by Israel and Lebanon in mid-April, Israel has continued near-daily strikes in Lebanon, while Hezbollah has launched retaliatory attacks on Israeli military positions. ■
