Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister accused Iran on Friday of meddling in the country’s affairs, opening a rare diplomatic spat after Iran’s parliament speaker remarked that his country was ready to help negotiate terms to bring about a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

The reported remarks amounted to “a blatant interference in Lebanese affairs,” said the Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, who later summoned Iran’s envoy to answer for them — a highly unusual rebuke by a top Lebanese official given the stranglehold that Iran-backed Hezbollah has on the country.

In an interview published by France’s Le Figaro newspaper a day earlier, the Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, was quoted as saying that his government was ready to negotiate with France on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701, a UN agreement that ended the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 and is seen as a precondition for a cease-fire.

“The issue of negotiating to implement international resolution 1701 is being undertaken by the Lebanese state,” Mikati said, referring to the UN agreement. “Everyone is required to support it in this direction, not to seek to impose new mandates.”

New York Times News Service