Exclusive: Lebanese president accuses Iran of using his country as a bargaining chip in peace talks with the US

By Mostafa Salem, CNN

(CNN) — Lebanese President Joseph Aoun delivered a searing rebuke to Iran on Friday, accusing it of using his country as a bargaining chip against the wishes of the Lebanese people in the conflict with the United States and Israel.

In a rare and exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, President Aoun declared that he is committed to doing “whatever it takes” to save his country from conflict, and that the Lebanese people are “fed up” with war between Israel and Hezbollah, a heavily armed Iranian-backed proxy that has built strong domestic support by portraying itself as the defender of southern Lebanon and the Palestinian people.

“We are fed up and we want to live in peace,” Aoun said, adding “(Lebanese people) deserve to live in peace and in dignity, they deserve not seeing their homes being destroyed every five to 10 years.”

Since its founding in the 1980s, Hezbollah has gone to war with Israel multiple times. This year, the group fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for a joint US-Israeli assault on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and much of his senior military command. Israel’s aggressive response has killed more than 3,500 Lebanese and displaced nearly a fifth of the population.

Weakened by decades of foreign meddling, sectarian strife and its repeated entanglement in wider wars, the Lebanese state had pledged to tackle the daunting task of disarming Hezbollah in an effort to dismantle the group’s immense influence and halt Israel’s advancement.

Despite a ceasefire between Tehran and Washington in April and subsequent negotiations, Beirut has found itself increasingly embroiled in the wider conflict after Iran conditioned an agreement to end the war with the US on Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.

“It’s not your country, it’s our country,” Aoun said addressing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – the main backers of Hezbollah. “(Iran is) using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with US.”

Addressing Iran, he said, “You are not trying to help us … the people of Lebanon are paying the price … for the sake of your own interest,” adding, “our interests … do not coincide with your interests.”

Facing limited options and mounting desperation to weaken Iran’s influence in Lebanon, the US-backed President Aoun has instructed his government to negotiate direct ceasefire agreements with its longtime adversary, Israel – an unprecedented move by a Lebanese government that appears to be designed to pile further pressure onto Hezbollah.

“We are ready, we are willing, we are committed (to negotiations to end the war),” Aoun told Amanpour at the presidential palace in Beirut. “If you are not, you will never live in peace, safety and security,” he said addressing the Israeli people and government.

He added that Lebanon and Israel have a “great opportunity” to end the state of hostility and for both the Lebanese and Israeli people to live in safety and security.

“They are both fed up with war since 1948,” he added. “This is a huge opportunity. They both have to choose: war or… diplomacy.”

But the truces between Lebanon and Israel have barely taken hold as Hezbollah continues rejecting any disarmament without Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.

In a statement on Thursday, Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem slammed the Lebanon-Israel talks as a “surrender,” saying the resulting truce was rejected in its “entirety by broad segments of the Lebanese people.”

Aoun said he spoke to Lebanese people across different religious sects, including Shiites, who have told him they are “fed up” with Hezbollah’s war with Israel.

“They are Lebanese people. They are not Naim Qassem’s people,” he said in a rare public criticism of the Iran-backed Shiite militant leader.

Still, the Lebanese president slammed the Israeli military strategy in dismantling Hezbollah, saying the group can only be “dealt with” by the Lebanese government after the Israeli military withdraws – and the conflict can only end through negotiations.

“They can invade the whole country, they can flatten the whole country, but they will never be able to achieve their objective,” Aoun said on Israel. “Hezbollah is not an objective you can see… it’s an idea.”

Before becoming president, Aoun served eight years as army chief. He was wounded in battle and says he still carries shrapnel in his body, with his hearing damaged from close-quarters combat. Yet he says he hates war.

“I prefer negotiations over wars. I don’t want my children … and I don’t want the people in Lebanon to live the same hardship,” he said. “The best way forward is diplomacy.”

For almost three years, Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in aggressive skirmishes. Israeli forces have occupied dozens of villages in southern Lebanon to clear Hezbollah’s forces.

The Israeli government has conditioned their withdrawal from Lebanon on Hezbollah laying down its weapons – a step that the Lebanese government led by Aoun said it is committed to.

Yet, outside of vocal critique and a few symbolic steps of dismantling Hezbollah’s capabilities, the former military commander has not taken concrete steps to disarm Hezbollah in fear of sparking what many observers believe is a direct clash with the heavily armed group, which could spark a repeat of a brutal 15-year civil war that tore the country apart.

Instead, Aoun has watched his presidential palace tremble under Israeli strikes as Israel widens its campaign in Lebanon. At the same time, Iran continues raising the price of any ceasefire with the US while refusing to release its grip on Lebanese sovereignty.

“I will try… to negotiate and reason with them,” Aoun said in reference to Hezbollah and disarmament. “Eventually they will be persuaded, but the cost will be high.”

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Ami Kaufman contributed to this report.