Iran must not link Lebanon issue to Washington talks, Israeli envoy warns

Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, has said that Iran is wrongly attempting to connect developments in Lebanon with ongoing negotiations with Washington, stressing that the two issues are unrelated.

“The main issue here is that Iran is trying to connect the negotiations with the United States with Lebanon, and they have nothing to do with Lebanon,” Leiter told Fox News.

“When we hit Hezbollah, that has nothing to do with Iran, and they have to stay out of it,” he added, referring to Hezbollah.

Leiter further stated that Lebanon’s future depends on reducing Iranian influence, warning that the country “will not have a future if it remains linked to Iran.”

The ambassador spoke at a time of growing regional tensions that have intensified in recent days. On June 7, Iran fired missiles at northern Israel in response to Israeli strikes on Lebanon, following earlier warnings that any attack on Beirut would prompt retaliation.

Several hours later, overnight on June 8, Israel launched airstrikes on military targets in western and central Iran. The strikes reportedly caused damage to facilities at a petrochemical complex in Khuzestan Province.

Later that morning, Iran carried out another wave of attacks against Israeli territory, further intensifying the ongoing cycle of hostilities between the two sides.

By Jeyhun Aghazada