Iran says US, Israel 'sabotaged' Lebanon gov't

Iranian deputy FM says 'sabotage and obstruction by America and the Zionist regime are the main cause of the failure of Syrian and Saudi efforts to find a solution for the current situation in Lebanon'

AFP|Published: 01.13.11 , 13:30

An Iranian deputy foreign minister has said "sabotage and obstruction" by the United States and Israel are to blame for the collapse of Lebanon's government.

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Lebanon was without a government on Thursday after the powerful Shiite militant party Hezbollah and its allies resigned from cabinet over a UN probe into the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri.

"Lebanon is in a sensitive and unstable situation," a foreign ministry statement sent to AFP quoted Raouf Sheibani, Iran's deputy minister for the Middle East, as saying.

"Sabotage and obstruction by America and the Zionist regime are the main cause of the failure of Syrian and Saudi efforts to find a solution for the current situation in Lebanon," Sheibani said.

Diplomats said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia and Syria have ended attempts to mediate between the Hezbollah group and Saad Hariri, head of the collapsed Lebanese government.

Sheibani called for a solution to be found in Lebanon through "mutual effort of all political parties" to overcome the current situation and confront the "conspiracies of the ill-wishers."

He warned that "policies and warmongering threats" by the United States and Israel were dangerous for peace in the region.

For months, Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, has been pressing the Western-backed Hariri to disavow the special tribunal saying it is part of a US-Israeli plot.

According to unconfirmed media reports, the tribunal is poised to indict senior Hezbollah members in connection with Rafiq Hariri's 2005 assassination, a move the militant party vehemently rejects.

The government's collapse plunged Lebanon into its worst political crisis since 2008, as Hariri was holding talks in Washington with US President Barack Obama.