DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said on Monday it respected the votes cast by people in Lebanon’s parliamentary election, where unofficial results showed some of Tehran-backed Hezbollah’s oldest allies suffering losses and their opponents gaining more seats.
“Iran respects the vote of Lebanese people… Iran has never tried to interfere in Lebanon’s internal affairs,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told a televised weekly news conference.
The Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah has worked hand in glove with Tehran across the Middle East since it was founded by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards in 1982 to export Tehran’s Islamic Revolution.
With votes still being counted in Lebanon, the final results have yet to emerge for the first election since Lebanon’s devastating economic meltdown and a huge port explosion in 2020 that shattered Beirut.
(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Toby Chopra)
