U.S., French, and Iranian diplomats visit Beirut
Iran's foreign minister said on Friday (August 14) the global community should help Lebanon rather than impose its will on the country while in Beirut.
Iran backs Lebanon's powerful armed movement Hezbollah, which along with its allies helped form the outgoing government. The United States classifies Hezbollah as a terrorist group.
Mohammed Javad Zarif was speaking after meeting President Michel Aoun, who had earlier met with U.S. and French officials in a flurry of Western diplomacy that has focused on urging Lebanon to fight corruption and enact long-delayed reforms to unlock foreign financial aid to tackle an economic crisis.
French Defence Minister Florence Parly confirmed that the French President Emmanuel Macron plans to return to Beirut on Sept. 1 to follow up on the reconstruction efforts.
Parly, speaking after a tour of the French helicopter carrier Tonnerre, which arrived earlier in the day in the devastated port of Beirut, called on the Lebanese to form a government capable of taking "courageous decisions."
She described the ship as a "floating city" that can provide all kinds of medical and technical support, including a hospital, search and rescue equipment, construction materials and transport means for flour shipments.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale said on Thursday (August 13) that the United States' FBI would join a probe into the blast at a hangar in the port where highly-explosive material detonated in a mushroom cloud.
Hale called for an end to "dysfunctional governments and empty promises."
International humanitarian aid has poured in but foreign states have linked any financial assistance to reform of the Lebanese state, which has defaulted on its huge sovereign debts.
