Lebanese Leaders Lash Out at Iranian Regime, Say Lebanon Is Not a “Bargaining Chip”

05/06/2026

DIBBINE, Lebanon (AP), Jun 5: Lebanon’s president and prime minister criticized Iran on Friday for rejecting the latest ceasefire deal between the Lebanese government and Israel, saying their country should not be used by Tehran as a “bargaining chip” in its talks with Washington.

The comments by the country’s leaders came as the Israeli military struck multiple parts of southern Lebanon and issued evacuation warnings for nine villages, including one that has sheltered thousands of people displaced by the three-month war. The strikes killed nine people in six locations in southern Lebanon, the state news agency reported.

Addressing a statement issued a day earlier by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said, “It’s not your job to interfere in our country. I reject the statement totally because our people are being killed, our houses are being destroyed.”

Iran, he told CNN, is “using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiations with the United States.”

In separate remarks, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called on the Lebanese people to put the interest of their country first, saying that Lebanon “should not remain a battlefield for others.” He added that Iran should stop dealing with southern Lebanon and its people as “a bargaining chip to improve the conditions of its negotiations.”