TEHRAN -- An assistant to the Iranian deputy foreign minister has blasted President Joe Biden’s extension of the so-called U.S. National Emergency with regard to Lebanon.
Muhammad Sadiq Fazli, the director general of West Asia and North Africa Department at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said Washington is responsible for worsening situation in Lebanon.
“The U.S. support for the apartheid Zionist regime and its intervention in the regional states have worsened the situation in those countries, including Lebanon,” Fazli wrote in a post published on his Twitter page.
“How could the White House’s statement help Lebanon?” Fazli asked, calling on U.S. officials to stop supporting Israeli acts of aggression and looting Lebanon’s land and maritime reserves.
“We will stand with the honorable and resilient people of Lebanon against bullying,” said the Iranian deputy foreign minister.
Lebanon has been mired in a deep economic and financial crisis since late 2019. The crisis is the gravest threat to the country’s stability since the 15-year civil war ended in 1990.
The economic and financial crisis is mostly linked to the sanctions that the United States and its allies have imposed on Lebanon as well as foreign intervention in the Arab nation’s domestic affairs.
Compounding the woes, Saudi Arabia has imposed its own sanctions, including banning its citizens from traveling to Lebanon where Riyadh-backed elements have been jockeying for positions.
Biden on Thursday extended the U.S. National Emergency for Lebanon under the pretext of continuing activities that threaten the national security and foreign policy of the United States.
Without mentioning the role of his government in creating instability in Lebanon, the U.S. president claimed that Iran’s support for Hezbollah resistance movement served to undermine Lebanese sovereignty and contributed to political and economic instability in the region.
He also accused Iran of constituting “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”.
Biden’s message comes as the Congress discusses a resolution urging the European Union to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.
The resolution, which has been presented to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, calls on the EU to increase cross-border cooperation between European Union members and adopt tougher measures against Hezbollah, issuing arrest warrants against members and active supporters of the Lebanese resistance movement, freezing its assets in Europe, and prohibiting fundraising activities in support of the group.
U.S. Representative Ted Deutch, who is the sponsor of the resolution, said he saw no difference between the political and military wings of Hezbollah.