USUP President Ibrahim Mrad urges expulsion of Iranian Ambassador over interference in disarmament debate

BEIRUT — Despite a broad consensus among Lebanese, regional, and international actors on the urgent need to disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah and place all weapons under the sole authority of the Lebanese state, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made a controversial statement from Beirut Airport that drew strong condemnation from several Lebanese sovereignist figures.

Araghchi remarked, “Efforts to disarm Hezbollah are not new. Such measures have been attempted in the past, and their motivations are well known.” He added, “Based on the perception that Hezbollah has weakened, some have once again tried to advance this agenda.”

However, he emphasized that the resolute position taken by the group’s Secretary-General, along with the release of a forceful statement, makes it clear that Hezbollah intends to resist external pressure and will not retreat from its stance.

These remarks were widely interpreted as a direct challenge to the Lebanese state’s authority and an unambiguous affirmation of Iran’s support for Hezbollah’s defiance of national decisions. Critics argued that the statement signaled Iran’s continuing interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs, undermining the state’s sovereignty.

In response, Ibrahim Mrad, head of the Universal Syriac Union Party (USUP), issued a forceful statement urging the Lebanese government to “adopt a courageous national position by immediately expelling the Iranian ambassador from Lebanon and severing diplomatic ties with the terrorist Iranian regime.”

Mrad asserted that Araghchi’s comments “constitute blatant interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs and a direct affront to the state’s institutions and the will of the Lebanese people, who have long endured the burden of illicit weapons and Iran’s continued hegemony through its proxies within the country.”

He emphasized that “now more than ever, the Lebanese state must prove that it is truly sovereign — neither subject to foreign control nor taking orders from Qom or Tehran.”

Mrad went on to say, “It is entirely unacceptable for the Iranian ambassador in Beirut to continue behaving as a de facto authority, flagrantly violating all diplomatic norms, while the Iranian regime fuels chaos, division, and threats to stability in Lebanon and the wider region.”

Ibrahim Mrad declared that the Lebanese people will no longer accept their country being used to serve expansionist agendas or as a pawn in the hands of a repressive and violent regime that has caused widespread suffering across the region under deceptive slogans. “Lebanon is neither an Iranian outpost nor a province subjugated to the rule of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist.”