Tehran — Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and Egypt’s foreign minister Badr Abdelatty on Thursday issued a joint and uncompromising call for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, warning that continued occupation would further destabilize the region and intensify the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The two diplomats, speaking after high-level talks in Tehran, framed the Israeli presence in Lebanon as a blatant violation of international law and a deliberate attempt to expand Tel Aviv’s regional military footprint under the cover of Western backing. They stressed that true stability in the Middle East cannot be achieved while Israel continues to occupy Arab lands, enforce blockades, and starve civilian populations.
Araghchi condemned what he described as Israel’s “systematic policy of aggression” and urged the wider Islamic world to adopt a unified position, both politically and economically, to pressure the occupying regime into full withdrawal. Abdelatty echoed the sentiment, underlining Egypt’s readiness to coordinate with regional partners to counter the military escalation that he said “serves nothing but Western arms dealers and their proxy agendas.”
Their stance comes as Lebanon grapples with a controversial US-backed proposal that would see Hezbollah disarmed by the end of the year in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal. Hezbollah leaders have rejected the plan outright, calling it a “grave sin” and vowing to maintain their arsenal until all Israeli troops are gone. On Wednesday, several Shiite ministers stormed out of a Lebanese cabinet meeting in protest, signaling deep political fractures that could derail any such arrangement.
Regional analysts note that the push by Washington to pair Israeli withdrawal with Hezbollah’s disarmament is part of a broader Western strategy to weaken resistance movements and consolidate Israeli dominance over contested territories. Critics argue this is the same pattern seen in the Gaza Genocide, where US military aid shields Israel from accountability while enabling the destruction of Palestinian society.
According to Mehr News, the official joint statement by Araghchi and Abdelatty emphasized that no “peace plan” will succeed unless the full sovereignty of Lebanon is restored and Israel is compelled to leave without preconditions. The report underscored that their remarks were aimed at galvanizing the region’s political will to resist what they view as the West’s ongoing project of occupation and destabilization.
