Lebanon's Hariri camp lashes out at Iran's Khamenei

Future Movement MP says Iranian supreme leader's statements against UN probe into Hariri assassination 'aim to undermine calm in Lebanon, Arab world'

AFP|Published: 12.21.10 , 16:38

Lebanon's Saudi-backed ruling camp on Tuesday lashed out at Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after the cleric brushed aside a UN probe into the murder of former premier Rafik Hariri.

"It seems that Ayatollah Khamenei's remarks aim to undermine calm in Lebanon and across the Arab world," MP Ammar Houry of Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Future Movement told AFP.

"Khamenei's statements signal (Iran's) cover for certain local political positions ... or at least for Hezbollah," said Jamal al-Jarrah, another legislator representing the Future Movement in Lebanon's 128-strong parliament.

Khamenei on Monday dismissed as "null and void" imminent rulings by the UN court probing the 2005 murder of ex-Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri.

"This tribunal is receiving orders from elsewhere and whatever ruling it hands down is null and void," Khamenei told visiting Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani in a Tehran meeting.

The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is reportedly set to indict high-ranking operatives of the Shiite movement Hezbollah, Lebanon's most powerful military force which is backed by Tehran and Damascus.

Hezbollah has warned against any attempt to arrest its members, raising fears of instability in the small, multi-religious Mediterranean country.

But Saudi-backed Saad Hariri, son of the slain ex-premier, has vowed to see the court through.

The standoff has sparked fears of renewed violence in Lebanon following the STL indictments and regional powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Syria have scrambled to find a settlement that would please Lebanon's feuding camps.