Lebanon expels Iranian envoy as rift with Tehran deepens

BEIRUT

Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry declared Iran’s ambassador to Beirut persona non grata on March 24, ordering him to leave the country by the end of the week.

The decision was the clearest sign yet of deteriorating relations between the two countries and raises tensions within Lebanon over the role of Tehran and its Lebanon-based ally, the militant Hezbollah group.

The decision is the latest step taken by Lebanon’s government against Iran after the most recent Israel-Hezbollah war broke out on March 2, during which Israel’s military killed several members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in strikes around the long-suffering country.

Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi posted on X that he instructed the ministry’s secretary-general to summon the Iranian chargé d’affaires in Lebanon to inform him of the decision to withdraw approval of the Iranian ambassador to Beirut.

Raggi added that Iran’s new ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Reza Shibani, will be declared “persona non grata, and requested that he leaves Lebanese territory no later than 29 March 2026.”

The ministry later said the move does not mean that Lebanon is severing its diplomatic relations with Tehran.

The decision by the ministry was harshly criticized by Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon, while cleric Ali al-Khatib, a top Shiite religious figure in the country, called on the government to abolish the “reckless and hasty” decision.

The Shiite mufti in Lebanon, Ahmad Kabalan, said the ambassador should not leave the country, adding that “we will not allow the reckless authority to slaughter Lebanon politically.”

Hezbollah rejected the decision, saying this “reckless and condemned step serves neither Lebanon’s supreme national interests, nor its sovereignty or national unity; rather, it constitutes a blow against them.”