Top Iranian Official Backs Hezbollah in Beirut
Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s top security body, visited Lebanon amid U.S.-backed efforts to disarm Hezbollah by year’s end.
Iran’s most senior security official, Ali Larijani, arrived in Beirut on Wednesday in a show of solidarity with Hezbollah as Lebanon faces mounting foreign and domestic pressure to dismantle the group’s arsenal. The visit comes after the Lebanese government endorsed a U.S.-backed road map to disarm Hezbollah—a condition tied to billions in reconstruction aid following last year’s devastating war with Israel.
President Joseph Aoun, meeting Larijani, stressed that no armed group in Lebanon should depend on foreign support, a veiled reference to Iran’s role. Larijani countered by accusing Washington of dictating Lebanese policy and defending Hezbollah’s weapons as part of Lebanon’s “resistance” against Israel.
Hezbollah, formed in the 1980s with Iranian sponsorship, emerged from the recent war weakened—its leadership decimated, much of its arsenal destroyed, and its regional supply routes cut after the fall of Syria’s Assad regime. Yet the group remains defiant, dismissing the government’s disarmament deadline as illegitimate and insisting its weapons are non-negotiable without Israeli concessions.
The disarmament push is a key clause in last year’s cease-fire agreement with Israel, but Lebanese officials warn that acting without reciprocal Israeli steps risks internal unrest and renewed conflict. Israel still holds positions inside Lebanon and continues near-daily strikes, raising fears of escalation if the process stalls.