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4d ago

Iran Says Envoy Will Stay in Beirut Despite Expulsion Order

The standoff highlights deep rifts over Hezbollah that limit Beirut’s ability to set its own policy.

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Portraits of Hezbollah's late leaders Hassan Nasrallah, right, and his cousin, Hashem Safieddine, are seen, as smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Displaced people who fled Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sit inside tents used as shelters as a rainbow breaks through the rain in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Overview

  • Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that Ambassador Mohammad Reza Shibani will keep working in Beirut after Lebanon gave him until Sunday to leave.
  • Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry had declared him persona non grata and revoked his accreditation for wading into domestic politics, following a new ban on military activities by Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
  • Beirut has not announced next steps, and the envoy is reported to be inside Iran’s embassy, where he is believed to retain diplomatic immunity under standard Vienna Convention rules.
  • The confrontation has widened internal splits as Hezbollah condemned the order and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri opposed it and urged Shibani to remain.
  • Israel’s foreign minister mocked Lebanon for failing to enforce the decision, and diplomats say the rift is undercutting efforts to halt fighting that has killed more than 1,200 people and displaced over 1 million.