By Nohad Topalian | 2025-08-28

BEIRUT -- Lebanon's leadership has issued its clearest rebuke yet to Iranian interference, reaffirming plans to disarm Hizbullah and framing the effort as a test of national sovereignty.

President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam delivered the message directly to Ali Larijani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, during his August 13 visit to Beirut.

Their stance comes one week after the government ordered the Lebanese Army to draft a roadmap to remove Hizbullah's weapons by the end of the year -- a move Tehran openly opposed.

For many in Beirut, Iran's pushback reinforced long-standing concerns that Tehran is preserving Hizbullah's arsenal to control Lebanese decisions, protect its proxy, and stall reforms aimed at restoring state authority and economic stability.

MP Pierre Bou Assi of the Strong Republic bloc called Tehran's posture "blatant interference" and "unacceptable" for a nation striving to reclaim sovereignty.

He argued that Iran's opposition encourages Hizbullah to defy disarmament, deepening instability and delaying Lebanon's return to normal state governance.

Larijani's visit, he added, sought to legitimize its proxy's weapons under different guises.

Other Choice Movement head Alfred Madi said Iranian interference lies "behind everything Hizbullah does."

He warned that Beirut must be prepared to sever ties with a regime that "sows division" in Lebanon.

Breaking proxy dominance

Bou Assi said that since its establishment, the Islamic Republic has used Hizbullah to advance regional aims.

It has armed and trained the group in ways that subordinate Lebanese interests to external agendas, regional analysts told Al-Fassel.

In practice, this arrangement has entrenched a dual-power system where the formal state coexisted with a parallel armed structure aligned with Tehran.

That duality has scared off investment, undermined diplomacy, and trapped Lebanon in cycles of crisis.

Similar proxy arrangements across the Middle East, from Yemen's Houthis to Iraq's militias, are part of a broader Iranian strategy to project power without direct confrontation.

For Lebanon, this has meant becoming a battleground for regional rivalries while paying the price in stability and development.

The government's disarmament mandate is intended to break this pattern, the analysts said.

"There can be no stability unless strategic decisions are made solely by the Lebanese state," Bou Assi told Al-Fassel.

His statement underscores the disarmament effort's core goal: re-establishing the state's monopoly on force and ending parallel chains of command in matters of war and peace.

Bou Assi said citizens' trust in the government has returned thanks to its rejection of foreign interference and pursuit of disarmament.