Barrack meets Berri, says US 'never gonna abandon Lebanon'

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said Tuesday that he held a "great" meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri and that he is optimistic about his ongoing visit to Lebanon.

The U.S. "is never gonna abandon Lebanon," he told reporters as he arrived for the talks.

Asked by a reporter “why wouldn’t the U.S. give any guarantees to Lebanon,” after his meeting with Berri, Barrack said: “There is no problem with guarantees. We’re all working through it. Everything is moving. You should all be hopeful. We’re gonna get regional stability. Everything is gonna be okay.”

Barrack had met Monday and Tuesday with President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and a host of political, religious and financial figures.

In an interview with Tele Liban, Barrack said his talks with Aoun and Salam were constructive and full of hope, adding that progress is being achieved.

He had said earlier in the day that he returned to Lebanon because U.S. President Donald Trump is interested in reaching “regional stability” and because Lebanon is the “center of that process.”

Noting that the U.S. wants “security” and “economic prosperity” in Lebanon, Barrack pointed out that the U.S. cannot “compel” Israel to do or not do “anything.”

The Presidency meanwhile said that Aoun handed Barrack, in the name of the Lebanese state, a "draft comprehensive memo for the implementation of everything that Lebanon has pledged -- from the November 27, 2024 declaration to the Lebanese government’s ministerial statement to especially the president’s inaugural speech.”

Barrack's visit to Lebanon comes amid ongoing domestic and international pressure for Hezbollah to give up its remaining arsenal after a bruising war with Israel that ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement in November.