Controversial Meeting in Tehran to Stir Political Dispute between Rival Parties

Lebanon's participation in a meeting between Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian lawmakers, ahead of a meeting for the International Parliamentary Union, is expected to create a dispute among the political arch-foes, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Monday.

According to the daily, the preparatory meeting between the four countries on March 10 in the Iranian capital, Tehran, will become a point of contention locally as it would be representing a particular international axis that contradicts the dissociation policy that the Lebanese government had adopted.

The Baabda Declaration was unanimously adopted during a national dialogue session in June 2012. It calls for Lebanon to disassociate itself from regional crises, most notably the one in Syria.

A parliamentary source told the newspaper that Speaker Nabih Berri has “the complete freedom to form the Lebanese delegation according to his will.”

“The parliament is not obliged to commit to anything,” the source said.

Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi had recently invited Lebanese officials to attend the preparatory meeting that will be preceding the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the world organization of Parliaments, which will be held in Geneva on March 16.

An Iranian parliamentary delegation, headed by Boroujerdi, held talks with senior Lebanese officials last week.

The delegation pledged on it's two-day official visit that “through its capabilities in this field, the Islamic Republic of Iran will spare no effort or support that might be asked for by the Lebanese side in the battle against terrorism and terrorists.”