Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said the kingdom does not plan to engage with the Lebanese government at this time in a deepening rift, reiterating a call on the political class to end the "domination" of the Iran-allied Hezbollah movement.
Lebanon is facing its worst diplomatic crisis yet with Gulf states, spurred by a minister's critical comments about the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen that prompted Riyadh to expel Lebanon's ambassador, recall its own envoy and ban all imports from Lebanon.
"We see no useful purpose of engaging with the Lebanese government at this point in time," Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud told France 24 television in an interview aired on Saturday.
"We think that the political class needs to step up and take the necessary actions to liberate Lebanon from the domination of Hezbollah, and through Hezbollah, Iran."