BICOM

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif, who recently led Tehran’s negotiations with the international community over Iran’s nuclear programme, was criticised yesterday after he laid a wreath at the grave of Hezbollah’s former military commander Imad Mugniyah.

Zarif is currently visiting Lebanon and yesterday met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. According to Hezbollah’s television station Al-Manar, the pair discussed regional issues and the importance of working together. Hezbollah, which dominates southern Lebanon, receives large scale financial and military support from Iran and is one of Tehran’s closest allies.

Zarif then visited the grave of Hezbollah’s former military chief Imad Mugniyah, who was assassinated in Damascus in a car bomb in 2008. Mugniyah is thought to have been responsible for a number of large-scale deadly terrorist attacks, including the bombing of the United States Embassy in Beirut in 1983 which killed more than 350 people and a bomb attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992 which killed 29 people and wounded more than 240.

US National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden sharply criticised Zarif’s honouring of Mugniyah, saying “The decision to commemorate an individual who has participated in such vicious acts, and whose organisation continues to actively support terrorism worldwide, sends the wrong message and will only exacerbate tensions in the region.” Hayden also condemned “The inhumane violence that Mugniyah perpetrated – and that Lebanese Hezbollah continues to perpetrate in the region with Iran’s financial and material support.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani yesterday boasted via Twitter that the recent interim deal struck between Tehran and the P5+1 forum (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) over Iran’s nuclear development showed that “world powers surrendered to Iranian nation’s will.” Rouhani is viewed by many as a moderating influence in the Iranian regime. White House spokesman Jay Carney explained Rouhani’s remark saying “The Iranians are describing the agreement in a certain way for their domestic audience.”