Iraq’s Araqchi… and More: Iranian Diplomacy, from the Top Down, Navigates Its Crisis and Sets Its Sights on Beirut.
Following a phone call arranged in advance between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, political sources said the conversation did not go beyond general diplomatic protocol. Both sides agreed on the need to support diplomatic solutions to end regional conflicts and halt Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
After the call, Araqchi’s deputy, Saeed Khatibzadeh, arrived in Beirut at the head of a diplomatic delegation. The purpose of the visit remains unclear, but it comes as regional tensions reach boiling point, fueled by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz amid the confrontation with Iran.
Katz has warned Hezbollah that if it joins Iran in an attack on Israel, it will face a major strike. He also threatened to evacuate the Dahiyeh suburbs and residents up to the Awali River, potentially displacing more than one million Shiites within Lebanon.
The threats, coming amid a race against time ahead of elections, have reverberated inside Israel. Former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has not ruled out Netanyahu launching a military operation against Iran, Hamas or Hezbollah before the elections. Lieberman argued that Netanyahu is driven not by security considerations but by a desire to cling to power.
Against this backdrop, Lebanon finds itself divided between growing fears of escalation in the south and the Tampa meeting, which appears to have been postponed because of regional developments.
Yet Lebanon has not been left alone. Diplomatic sources told Al Jadeed of a Saudi-Qatari convergence on the Lebanese file. Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari has reportedly travelled to the Kingdom for a working meeting with Prince Yazid bin Farhan focused on Lebanon and its government.
Meanwhile, according to the same sources, Qatar’s prime minister is expected in Beirut tomorrow carrying a proposal to support the energy sector and secure fuel supplies, as part of a joint Saudi-Qatari effort to help the Lebanese government amid mounting economic hardship.
Qatar is standing by Lebanon, while Saudi Arabia—facing what the report describes as unfair treatment by its neighbors—is keeping Lebanon firmly in focus. At the same time, the Kingdom has decided to defend itself independently, rejecting an Israeli request conveyed through Washington to allow Israel to intervene in the conflict with the Houthis, according to Haaretz. The newspaper quoted an unnamed source as saying that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman categorically rejected Israeli military intervention.
The Kingdom has meanwhile become a destination for regional solidarity. Iraq’s prime minister visited Saudi Arabia and assured the Crown Prince that Iraq would not allow its territory to be used as a launchpad for any attack against the Kingdom. This position echoes the Gulf Cooperation Council’s longstanding principle that Saudi Arabia’s security is inseparable from that of the other member states.
While Arab and Gulf efforts continue to defuse tensions and reach a comprehensive agreement for peace in the region, U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be running out of patience. As he threatens to teach Iran a harsh lesson, he has also taken on an AI-generated tiger—not a “paper tiger.”