TEHRAN (AFP) — Lebanese Christian political leader Michel Aoun said on Monday that Iran was helping Lebanon to achieve ational unity and dismissed criticism at home about his visit to the Islamic republic.
"Iran is especially helping Lebanon today in confronting its problems and achieving national unity," Aoun told a joint news conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
"Iran never helped one Lebanese party against the others," said the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement who is allied with the Iran- and Syria-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah.
He said he was "surprised and astonished" at criticism from Lebanese Christian factions about the visit.
Aoun, who arrived in Tehran on Sunday, is due to hold talks with Mottaki, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and parliament speaker Ali Larijani.
Shiite-majority Iran is a staunch supporter of Hezbollah although it denies Western and Israeli charges of providing military backing to the militant group.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
