Eurasia Press & News
Iran has condemned the murder of a lawmaker and five others in a Lebanon car bombing, saying the blast was aimed at causing instability ahead of a crucial presidential vote. “This terrorist act aimed to cause instability in Lebanon in the current sensitive situation, when the initiative of Lebanon parliament speaker is taking shape,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.
He was referring to an offer by Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an opposition chief, to drop a demand for a unity government if the country’s feuding political parties agree on a consensus candidate for the presidency.
Hosseini blamed Israel, Iran’s arch regional enemy, for Wednesday’s murder of MP Antoine Ghanem in a mainly Christian neighborhood of Beirut.
“It comes from ominous plots of the Zionist regime, which has always been threatening Lebanese sovereignty, independence, security and people’s solidarity,” he said in a statement.
Parliament has from September 25 to November 24 to elect a president to replace Emile Lahoud, whose term in office was extended by three years under a constitutional amendment in 2004.
