The Lebanese Foreign Minister has rebuked a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader for describing Hezbollah as “more essential than bread and water” for Lebanon.
Adviser Ali Akbar Velayati made the comment after Israel assassinated Hezbollah's chief of staff Haitham Ali Tabatabai in an air strike in Beirut on Sunday.
“Ongoing attacks and crimes committed by the Zionist entity against Lebanon show that the presence of Hezbollah has become more important for Lebanon than daily bread,” Mr Velayati told Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency on Wednesday.
The remarks sparked a backlash in Lebanon, with Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji directing a message to his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi.
“I genuinely wanted to believe what you said that Iran does not interfere in Lebanon's internal affairs until your supreme leader's adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati, came out today to guide us on what is truly important in Lebanon and warned us of the consequences of disarming Hezbollah,” Mr Rajji said.
The Lebanese government is under intense US and Israeli pressure to disarm Hezbollah, an armed group and political party whose primary backer is Iran. But the group, weakened by its war with Israel last year, is resisting any conversation about its weapons under the current circumstances.
“What is more important to us than water and bread is our sovereignty, our freedom, and the independence of our internal decision-making, free from ideological slogans and transborder regional agendas that have devastated o
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