BEIRUT, July 16 (Reuters): Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Monday the US withdrawal from world powers’ 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran would have negative consequences for Middle East stability.
Aoun, a Maronite Christian politician, is a political ally of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah. The United States, which classifies Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation, arms and trains Lebanon’s army.
“The unilateral US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement (in May) will have negative repercussions for security and stability in the region,” Aoun wrote on Twitter, his first public comment on the accord.
“Lebanon considered (the deal) a cornerstone for stability in the region, helping make it an area free of weapons of mass destruction,” Aoun’s office said in a statement summarising a meeting between him and Iranian foreign ministry official Hossein Jaberi Ansari.
Aoun said he welcomed the commitment of other countries to continue with the deal.
In Lebanon’s May parliamentary elections Hezbollah together with groups and individuals that are politically aligned to it won more than half of parliament’s seats, boosting the group politically.
Under the 2015 accord, Iran won a lifting of international sanctions in return for verifiable curbs on its disputed uranium enrichment program.
US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the deal in May, calling it deeply flawed, and has reimposed stringent US sanctions, heaping pressure on other signatories including major European allies to follow suit.
European powers have reaffirmed their commitment to the accord and say they will do more to encourage their businesses to stay engaged with Iran, though a number of firms have already said they plan to pull out to avoid US penalties.
Meanwhile, Iran's top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has criticised Saudi Arabia over its management of the hajj pilgrimage and called for a fresh investigation into a 2015 crush that killed hundreds, Iranian state TV reported on Monday.
The criticism comes ahead of this year's haj and amid tension between Tehran and Riyadh over proxy wars in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen in which the two support opposing sides.
Riyadh says nearly 800 pilgrims died when two big groups of pilgrims collided at a crossroads in Mina, a few km (miles) east of Mecca, on their way to performing the "Stoning of the Devil" ritual at Jamarat.
Counts by countries of repatriated bodies showed over 2,000 people may have died, including more than 400 Iranians.
"A fact-finding committee, with Iran's presence, should be formed to investigate these cruelties.
Relevant Iranian authorities should mobilise all legal resources to follow up the tragedy," Khamenei said in a speech to Iran's haj organisers.
"The holy lands of Mecca and Mina belong to all Muslims ... it does not belong to rulers of Saudi Arabia," said Khamenei.
The kingdom, Iran's key regional rival, presents itself as the guardian of Islamic orthodoxy and custodian of its holiest places in Mecca and Medina.
Iran boycotted the haj in 2016 amid tensions with Saudi Arabia over the incident.
About 90,000 Iranians attended the pilgrimage last year.
Iran also boycotted the haj for three years after 402 pilgrims, including 275 Iranians, died in clashes with Saudi security forces at an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Mecca in 1987. The so-called "deliverance from infidels" rallies are banned by the Saudi authorities.
"Haj is the best opportunity to display that religion and politics cannot be separated ... the real haj is a combination of unity and seeking deliverance from infidels," he said.
Approximately 85,000 Iranians are expected to attend the haj pilgrimage this year in Islam's holiest city Mecca.
Riyadh severed diplomatic relations in 2016 after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran following the execution of a Shi'ite cleric in Saudi Arabia in January 2016.
Saudi Arabia welcomed President Donald Trump's decision in May to withdraw the United States from the international nuclear agreement with Iran and to reimpose economic sanctions on its arch-foe Tehran.
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