TEHRAN: Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Wednesday that Iran is ready to offer military aid to Lebanon, after a call for Tehran’s help from the leader of Lebanon’s Shiite militant movement Hezbollah.
"Lebanon is a friend and its army is our friend," General Vahidi told reporters after an Iranian cabinet meeting, state television reported on its website. "We are prepared to help them … should there be a request."
On Tuesday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah proposed the Lebanese government seek military aid from Iran.
"I vow that Hezbollah will work fervently and capitalize on its friendship with Iran to ensure it helps arm the Lebanese military in any way it can," Nasrallah said in a televised speech.
He insisted that if Lebanon made an official request, "Iran will not hold back in supporting the Lebanese army in any way it can."
Nasrallah, whose movement is backed by Tehran and Damascus, made the call following a US freeze in its military aid to Beirut in the wake of deadly border clashes between Lebanese and Israeli troops.
On August 10, US Congressman Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced he had placed on hold 100 million dollars in aid to Lebanon’s military.
Berman said he could not be sure the Lebanese armed forces were not working with Hezbollah, which Washington lists as a "terrorist" organization and whose militiamen fought a devastating month-long war against Israel in 2006.
