Iranian charge d'affaires summoned to Foreign Ministry, handed protest letter

The Iranian Chargé d'Affaires in Lebanon, Tawfiq Samadi, appeared Friday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the summons of Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji.

He was met by the Secretary-General of the Ministry, Ambassador Abdel Sattar Issa, who raised "a series of serious questions regarding statements issued by the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon and Iran's representative to the United Nations," a Ministry statement said.

"These questions focused particularly on their claim that the four Iranians targeted in a hotel ... held diplomatic status and that their presence on Lebanese soil was with the knowledge and consent of the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs -- a claim the Ministry categorically denies and considers false," the statement said.

The Secretary-General also presented the Iranian Chargé d'Affaires with a number of examples "demonstrating Iran's disregard for Lebanese government decisions, most recently the statement issued by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) concerning joint operations with Hezbollah."

The Secretary-General requested official written responses to these and other points raised.

In the same context, the Iranian chargé d'affaires was handed an official written note in which the Lebanese state informed the Iranian side of its "categorical rejection of any interference in its internal affairs," stressing its full commitment to "the provisions of international law in their entirety without selectivity or double standards," and emphasizing that it "will only accept relations based on equality and parity with Tehran, the firm foundation of which is respect for the principle of non-interference in the affairs of other countries."