Lebanon's Aoun hits out at Iran, Hezbollah: 'It’s not your country, it’s our country. Our interests don't coincide with your interests'

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun issued an unusually direct warning to Iran on Friday, saying Tehran had no right to use Lebanon as leverage in its war against Israel and the United States.

Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview at the presidential palace in Beirut, Aoun said the Lebanese public had had enough of the cycle of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy that has long operated as a state within a state, and whose commitment to the destruction of the Jewish state was not abated by the many blows it's been dealt by the IDF in recent years. 

In a message aimed at Tehran, Aoun said: “You are not trying to help us … the people of Lebanon are paying the price … for the sake of your own interest.” He added that “our interests … do not coincide with your interests.”

The Lebanese president also singled out Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after it called this week for Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon to be included in a US-Iran ceasefire arrangement.

“It’s not your country, it’s our country,” Aoun said. He accused the Guards of attempting to fold Lebanon into Iran’s negotiations with Washington, saying: “They are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with US.” He called the move “unacceptable.”

Aoun also aimed rare public criticism at Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, who had rejected a fragile ceasefire arrangement between Lebanon and Israel a day earlier. Qassem, Aoun said, did not speak for Lebanon. Addressing him directly, he said: “the Lebanese people are not your people.”

Asked whether he could meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Aoun did not rule out such a step, which would mark the first meeting between leaders of the two countries. But he said it could not happen “before reaching an agreement” to end the war.