TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran on Wednesday said that it backs the Arab League chief Amr Mussa's efforts to persuade warring Lebanese factions to agree a compromise plan allowing the election of a new president.
"We appreciate the efforts exerted by the Arab League and we consider it to be a good base to solve the Lebanese problems," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.
"We support the Arab initiative presented by Mr Amr Mussa to all Lebanese sides," he said in a joint press conference with visiting Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Mohammed al-Sabah.
Mussa is to return to Beirut on Wednesday for another attempt to persuade rival leaders to agree on a plan to end the crisis in Lebanon, which has been without a president since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down in November.
The Lebanese parliament has been unable to elect a successor to Lahoud because of the rivalry between the Western-backed ruling majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition, which is supported by Syria and Iran.
The Arab initiative is based on a three-point plan calling for the election of army chief General Michel Sleiman as president, a national unity government in which no one party has veto power, and adopting a new electoral law.
Although the ruling coalition has given the Arab plan its full support, the Shiite militant group Hezbollah is insisting that the opposition have a third of the seats in a new 30-member government in order to have veto power.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
