Iran using Lebanon as bargaining chip in US talks, Lebanese president says
· Japan TodayBEIRUT — Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Iran of using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with the United States on Friday, in some of his toughest criticism yet of Tehran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah as it wages war with Israel.
In a CNN interview, Aoun said "the people of Lebanon are paying the price ... for the sake" of Iran's interests, and were "fed up" with war between Israel and Hezbollah - comments reflecting deep divisions along Lebanon's confessional and political faultlines.
"They are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with the United States,” Aoun said of Iran, according to excerpts of the interview published on the CNN website. “It’s unacceptable."
Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah, founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, ignited the latest hostilities more than three months ago when it opened fire in solidarity with Tehran as Iran came under U.S.-Israeli attack.
Aoun, who led the Lebanese military before becoming head of state, is a Maronite Christian, as required by Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing arrangements.
He has pressed for the peaceful disarmament of Hezbollah since being elected head of state by parliament last year. Early in the war, he called for face-to-face talks with Israel, further setting him at odds with the group.
Iran has made a Lebanon ceasefire a condition for any peace deal with Washington in the wider regional conflict that began with the U.S.-Israeli attack on Tehran on February 28.
On Thursday, Hezbollah rejected a ceasefire plan agreed by Lebanese and Israeli government officials in U.S.-mediated talks in Washington. The deal would be contingent on Hezbollah ceasing fire and its fighters withdrawing from southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in a written statement on Thursday that direct Lebanon-Israel talks in Washington were rejected by "broad segments of the Lebanese people".
Addressing Qassem, Aoun said: "The Lebanese people are not your people".
Israeli attacks have killed thousands of people in Lebanon since March and displaced some 1.2 million people, Lebanese authorities say. Israeli troops have occupied a swathe of southern Lebanon.
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