Tuesday, 7 April 2015

Rival camps laud Iran nuclear deal


BEIRUT: Parliamentary blocs on both sides of the political spectrum Tuesday praised last week’s framework nuclear agreement reached between Iran and world powers, hoping that the deal would strengthen security and stability in the turbulent region. Meanwhile, a senior political source called for the election of a new president without waiting for the outcome of the Iran nuclear deal or any other regional or international developments.


Asked whether Iran’s deal with world powers over its nuclear program would facilitate the presidential vote, the source told The Daily Star: “So far, nothing has happened in this direction. But a new president must be elected in isolation of any regional or international considerations as U.S. official [Antony] Blinken has hinted during his visit to Lebanon yesterday [Monday].”


However, the Future bloc called for the nuclear deal to be coupled with a change in Iran’s policies in the region, where it has been accused by Arab Gulf states of inciting sectarian tensions and conflicts with its intervention in the internal affairs of regional countries.


“The bloc hopes that Iran’s agreement with the P5+1 states will constitute a step on the road to making the entire Middle East region free of any weapons of mass destruction,” said a statement released after the bloc’s weekly meeting.


The bloc underlined the need for “this agreement on Iran’s nuclear program to be coupled with a change in Iran’s policies in the region, whereby it will stop exporting sectarian strife, unleashing storms of sectarian fanaticism and ending its dreams of empire,” the statement said.


It added that Iran, after the nuclear deal with Western powers, should move toward “exercising a positive and constructive role starting with respecting international legitimacy, international law and the principles of good neighborliness.”


The bloc reiterated its support for the “Decisive Storm” operation, the Saudi-led airstrikes that began on March 26 against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, saying the operation reflected an “Arab will to confront Iran’s expansionist imperial ambitions.”


The bloc implicitly lashed out at Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah for attacking Saudi Arabia and for defending the nuclear deal with the “Great Satan.”


“Great Satan” is a term used by Iran and its allies in Lebanon, mainly Hezbollah, to refer to the United States.


In a TV interview Monday, Nasrallah said the nuclear agreement would bolster Iran’s role in the region and would ward off the specter of a regional war. He also blasted Saudi Arabia’s role in Yemen, saying its military intervention in the impoverished Gulf country was doomed to fail.


“The bloc is surprised that the one [Nasrallah] who has long considered America as the “Great Satan,” and that any agreement with it would be high treason, is today in the position of defending the agreement with the “Great Satan” and has moved to [verbally] attack the Arabs, Arabism and its symbols – on top of which is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Future MPs said in their statement.


The Kataeb Party, a long-time critic of Hezbollah and Iran’s role in Lebanon, said the nuclear deal would have “a positive impact on boosting security and stability in the region and the world and strengthening international relations and commitment to the principles of good neighborliness among states.”


A statement issued after a meeting of the party’s political bureau chaired by party leader Amine Gemayel urged the Lebanese “to realize these strategic developments in the region and work so that they can be a factor of peace for Lebanon rather than a new pretext for internal conflicts.”


The Iran nuclear deal was also praised by MP Michel Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc.


“The international-Iranian nuclear agreement has made Iran a stabilizing power in the region. This balance is supplementary to stability. This is what Gen. Michel Aoun has referred to,” former Labor Minister Salim Jreissati said in a statement after the bloc’s weekly meeting chaired by Aoun at his residence in Rabieh.


Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said Iran would expand its influence in the region as a result of its nuclear deal with the West.


“When the sanctions are lifted, Iran will be at ease economically and it will boost its role or intervention in areas where it has been intervening,” Adwan said in an interview with Al-Jadeed TV.


He said the LF, which along with other March 14 parties have opposed a gift from Iran to equip the Lebanese Army because of the U.N. sanctions on Tehran, is now ready to support the military gift “if there are no international risks.”


Meanwhile, the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Asiri met with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain al-Tineh to discuss developments in the region, the National News Agency said. The meeting came amid tension between Hezbollah and Saudi Arabia over the Yemen war after Nasrallah lambasted Riyadh for its military intervention in Yemen.


Separately, Spain’s King Felipe VI called for “peace and harmony” in Lebanon during a visit to Beirut, saying his country remained committed to keeping its UNIFIL troops in southern Lebanon despite the recent death of a Spanish peacekeeper.


“Spain’s commitment to this [peacekeeping] aim is firm and decided,” Felipe said in a speech in Beirut, according to a text in Spanish released by the palace in Spain.


Prime Minister Tammam Salam offered his condolences to the Spanish king over the January death of Cpl. Javier Soria Toledo, 36, who was killed in Israeli shelling.


Salam offered his condolences during a meeting with the king in the Grand Serail two days after a confidential Spanish military report on the death of the peacekeeper said his position was deliberately targeted by Israeli forces.


The premier voiced his gratitude for Spain’s participation in UNIFIL’s mission along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.


The 10,000-strong UNIFIL force includes some 600 Spanish soldiers and troops from 35 other nations.


Salam lauded efforts undertaken by Spanish peacekeepers, who he said “have succeeded in forging the best of ties with south Lebanon residents.”


A statement released by Salam’s media office said that talks focused on “general issues of interest to the Lebanese government and the Spanish kingdom,” as well as bilateral relations between the two countries.



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