Lebanese President Aoun Declares That Hezbollah Must Be Disarmed

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has again reiterated, in talks with Iranian Security Minister Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s main security body, that Hezbollah must be disarmed, and any attempt by Iran to interfere with Lebanon’s internal affairs will be dealt with harshly. More on their talks can be found here: “Openly defying Iran, Lebanon’s Aoun says no armed groups allowed in country,” Times of Israel, August 13, 2025:

No group in Lebanon is permitted to bear arms or rely on foreign backing, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun told a senior Iranian official on Wednesday, days after the Lebanese cabinet approved the objectives of a US-backed roadmap to disarm the Iran-aligned Hezbollah terror group in line with a 2006 UN Security Council resolution.

During a meeting in Beirut with Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s top security body, Aoun warned against foreign interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs, saying the country was open to cooperation with Iran but only within the bounds of national sovereignty and mutual respect.

Following his arrival in Beirut, Larijani vowed that his government would continue to provide support after it expressed opposition to the disarmament plan.

“We reject any interference in our internal affairs,” Aoun said, adding that “it is forbidden for anyone… to bear arms and to use foreign backing as leverage,” according to a statement from the Lebanese presidency posted on X.

“The friendship we seek with Iran must be with all Lebanese, not through one sect or component alone,” Aoun said, according to the statement.

In other words, the Lebanese government will not allow Hezbollah be the favored interlocutor between Iran and Lebanon. Nor will Hezbollah be allowed to exist as a military force in Lebanon. It may, however, continue to subsist as a political party.

Larijani claimed that the Iran supports Lebanon’s sovereignty and does not interfere in its decision-making. This is nonsense, of course. The Islamic Republic has been undermining Lebanon’s sovereignty ever it first came to power in 1979, by supplying money and, especially, weapon, to support the Lebanese terror group. It was that Iranian aid that turned the Shi’a terror group into the most powerful force in Lebanon. It was able to assassinate with impunity Sunni rivals, including Rafik Hariri, a billionaire who had been the president of Lebanon five times, and to turn southern Beirut into a Hezbollah stronghold.

Now President Aoun has laid down the law to Tehran’s emissary Ali Larijani. No more interfering in Lebanese affairs. No more Iranian support for Hezbollah. And no armed groups in Lebanon except for the Lebanese National Army.