Ahmadinejad: Lebanese government and Hezbollah should be united

Nov 29, 2010, 5:53 GMT

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged the Lebanese government to unite with the militant anti-Israeli group Hezbollah for the common good, the website of state television network IRIB reported Monday.

'If the Lebanese government and the resistance (Hezbollah) were in one front, then the country could pursue the path of dignity and development and there would be nothing the Zionist regime (Israel) and its allies could do anymore,' Ahmadinejad told visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri Sunday.

He said all countries should support national unity in Lebanon to ensure security.

Tehran supports for Hezbollah, which leads the opposition against the prime minister's Western-backed government.

Divisions have widened after reports that the UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father, former premier Rafik Hariri, was ready to indict Hezbollah members.

Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials made clear to Hariri that Tehran would not drop its support for Hezbollah or the group's fight against Israel.

'The theory of peace in the region has failed and resistance is the only way to confront [Israel],' Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said.

'Resistance and unity are the two main factors for realizing progress in Lebanon and whatever would harm the Lebanese resistance would target the interests of the Lebanese people,' Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeid Jalili told Hariri.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that the 'Iran-Lebanon connection would create the optimal cooperation potential.'

Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that Iran was ready to cover Lebanon's defence needs and also that of Hezbollah.

Read more about Iran Diplomacy

Read more about Lebanon