Parties Reportedly Agree on 4-Point Plan to Face U.S. Pressure

Contacts and deliberations over the past few days have led to an agreement among the government parties to “keep the political arena immunized against the U.S. pressures and the developments that the region is witnessing,” a media report said.

“The current U.S. pressures are not new and we do not believe that they will achieve their objectives. The main political parties have taken a clear decision to immunize the country and not to create a climate of escalation that would affect political stability in the country,” a prominent political source told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Sunday.

“There is no doubt that we should not underestimate the extent and objectives of the U.S. pressures, but the recent deliberations between leaders and officials have focused on taking all the precautions to face this situation,” the source added.

He noted that officials have agreed on a four-point plan in this regard that involves preserving the current government, maintaining the political settlement that has been running since President Michel Aoun's election, conducting contacts to alleviate the U.S. measures' impact on the economy, and protecting security and stability.

The U.S. Congress is mulling two bills aimed at toughening sanctions against Hizbullah amid a new anti-Iran drive by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

In a speech in which he withdrew presidential support for the nuclear deal with Iran on Friday, Trump denounced the Iranian government as a "fanatical regime" that backs a wide array of militant groups in the Middle East.

He described Tehran as "the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism," saying it backs al-Qaida, the Taliban, Hizbullah, Hamas and "other terrorist networks."

Trump also slammed what he called Iran's "continuing aggression in the Middle East and all around the world."