Lebanon's FM snubs Iran, turns down invitation to visit Tehran: What to know
Youssef Rajji declined an invitation from his Iranian counterpart to visit Tehran, saying, "The appropriate conditions for such a visit were not present.”
BEIRUT — Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji declined an invitation from his Iranian counterpart to visit Tehran on Wednesday, further straining ties between the two countries at a time when US-led pressure is mounting on Beirut to disarm Hezbollah.
What happened: Rajji said in a post on X that he sent a letter to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, informing him that he would not visit Iran “under the current circumstances.”
“I clarified that declining the invitation did not mean a refusal to engage in dialogue, but rather that the appropriate conditions for such a visit were not present,” he wrote.
Instead, the top Lebanese diplomat suggested meeting in a neutral third country. He also expressed his readiness to start a new era of “constructive relations” between the two countries “based solely on mutual and absolute respect for the independence and sovereignty of each country and non-interference in its internal affairs in any form, regardless of the justifications.”
