Lebanon Files UN Complaint Accusing Iran of Abusing Diplomatic Immunity

The Lebanese government filed a sharply worded complaint with the United Nations. It accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of abusing diplomatic immunity by refusing to recall its ambassador after Beirut demanded his expulsion and to halt alleged terrorist activities on Lebanese soil. The complaint appears in a letter from late April that surfaced recently.

Lebanon disclosed the letter amid a second day of talks in Washington between Israel and Lebanon. The two countries remain in a state of war. The discussions aim to normalize relations and dismantle the Hezbollah terrorist movement backed by Iran's regime.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Friday that the United States facilitated talks between Israel and Lebanon have resumed today and are ongoing. The atmosphere of talks has been very positive, even exceeding expectations.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott wrote on X on Friday that on May 14 and 15, the United States hosted two days of highly productive talks between Israel and Lebanon. The April 16 cessation of hostilities will be extended by 45 days to enable further progress. The State Department will reconvene the political track of negotiations on June 2 and June 3.

Pigott added that a security track will be launched at the Pentagon on May 29 with military delegations from both countries. We hope these discussions will advance lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establishing genuine security along their shared border.

As the sides report back to their capitals, the letter from Lebanese ambassador to the U.N. Ahmad Arafa drew attention. Arafa slammed Iran for inserting alleged terrorists from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps into Lebanon under the guise of diplomatic activity.

Arafa said in the letter that Iran committed unlawful acts in blatant defiance of the decisions of the Government of Lebanon. This Iranian conduct constitutes direct and blatant interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon and drags the country into a war it did not choose to become involved in.

The U.S. and the European Union have classified the IRGC as a terrorist entity.

The letter took the Iranian ambassador to Beirut, Mohammad Reza Sheibani, to task for blatant interference in Lebanon. Beirut argued that Iran is violating the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and interfering in Lebanon's state of affairs.

A spokesperson for Lebanon's ambassador to the U.S. declined to comment on the details of the letter or the current talks with Israel in Washington.

Walid Phares, a leading U.S. expert on Lebanon and the Mideast, told Fox News Digital that many have considered the Lebanese memo to the U.N. as the start of the Lebanese government change of attitude towards Iran and a sign of escalation by Beirut. While the tone of the letter and its narrative make people feel that there is a government resistance to Iran and Hezbollah, reality is still lesser.

Phares added that the subject of the last quarrel is a legal change of status regarding the presence of Iranians on Lebanese soil. The Lebanese government has decided not to grant Iranians, government and private citizens, an automatic visa waiver, which upset Iran and Hezbollah. Besides, Tehran is furious at the fact that the Lebanese government has not been helpful in dealing with the elimination of a number of IRGC members killed in Lebanon by Israel. Tehran blames the foreign ministry of Lebanon, particularly foreign minister Youssef Raggi, for the lessening of solidarity with Iran.

According to Phares, Raggi represents a Lebanese Christian bloc in the parliament who is not sympathetic to the regime. However, the actual talks in D.C. are designed by the Lebanese government to show the Trump administration that the state wants to talk but not to reach an agreement that would trigger Hezbollah's wrath. The leaders of the Lebanese state are not yet where the U.S. and Israel expect them to be.

A regional official well-versed in the U.N. dispute told Fox News Digital that Lebanon argued that Iran had not given the Lebanese foreign ministry the list of all Iranians and the details about their place of stay. And that's why Israel targeted that hotel in Lebanon in which six were killed, which is true. The official said that Iran had not told the foreign ministry of Lebanon about those six people.