Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was declared persona non grata – unwanted – on Tuesday and was supposed to have left the country on Sunday. But the ambassador refuses and refers to support from Nabih Berri and the Shiite movement Amal. Thus Iran demonstrates that it does not respect Lebanon’s authorities and chooses Shias and the armed militia Hizbollah over the Lebanese people.
“The ambassador will not leave Lebanon, in accordance with the wishes of parliament speaker Nabih Berri and Hizbollah,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Lebanese terror group had condemned the decision to expel the Iranian envoy Mohammad Reza Sheibani, while Berri’s Amal party together with the Hizbollah ministers boycotted a government meeting this week to protest against the order.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday gave Tehran’s envoy a deadline until Sunday to leave the country, in the latest unthinkable measure from the Lebanese authorities since Hizbollah started a new war with Israel at the beginning of March.
The ministry accused the ambassador of making statements that “interfere in Lebanon’s internal politics”.
The ambassador can defy the Lebanese government because he has Hizbollah behind him. Thus Iran is tearing Lebanon apart and sacrificing Lebanon in the war against Israel and Iran.
There may be a new civil war in Lebanon.
The government has ordered Hizbollah to hand over its weapons. Instead, Hizbollah launched an attack on Israel on 2 March.
The French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot also praised the Lebanese government and called the expulsion “a courageous decision”.
The Lebanese authorities have already prohibited Hizbollah’s military activities, even though they have not implemented concrete measures to disarm the group.
They have also prohibited the presence and activities of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused of directing Hizbollah’s operations against Israel.
It is by no means certain that Hizbollah will emerge victorious from this conflict.
Public opinion is overwhelmingly against being drawn into a new war.
Hizbollah’s decision to resume the war against Israel triggered unusually sharp criticism, even from the Shiite support base, after having lost popular support in Lebanon over several years. In January 2025, the Lebanese parliament elected the former army chief Aoun, an opponent of Hizbollah, as the country’s president.
A opinion poll conducted in January 2026 by the Council for a Secure America showed that 73% of Lebanese largely or to some extent support the president’s efforts to disarm Hizbollah, while only 9% said that they largely or to some extent oppose the process.
On 9 March, in the midst of the ever-expanding Israeli offensive against Hizbollah, Aoun proposed direct talks with Israel, an appeal that was later supported by the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Israel has said that no talks are planned, but the United States and other Western nations have received the proposal with open arms and expressed hope that Israel will accept Beirut’s offer.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-envoy-to-remain-in-lebanon-in-defiance-of-expulsion-by-beirut-diplomatic-source/