Iran reaffirms support for Lebanon truce resolution

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday he supported a UN resolution on Lebanon and was determined to negotiate an end to Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West.

Mr Annan said the comments came at a meeting between the two men in Tehran during the UN chief's tour of the Middle East to shore up the ceasefire that halted a 34-day war in Lebanon between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas.

UN Resolution 1701 drew up the terms for the ceasefire, including expanding an existing UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon and calling for an arms embargo on Hizbollah.

After meeting Ahmadinejad, Mr Annan said the Iranian president "reaffirmed his country's support for the implementation of Resolution 1701 and agrees with me that we should do everything to strengthen the territorial integrity of Lebanon."

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking at the joint news conference, also said Iran was ready "to cooperate with the UN in resuming peace in Lebanon and on its borders."

Iran funded and armed Hizbollah in the 1980s but now says its support is primarily moral and political. However, it is still widely believed to be the group's main arms supplier.

UN and Iranian officials did not outline how Iran would support the UN resolution. UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said Mr Annan had raised the issue of the arms embargo with Mr Mottaki on Saturday but he did not give details of the response.

Mr Fawzi said President Ahmadinejad had told Mr Annan in telephone talks prior to his visit that Iran had reservations about some articles of the resolution but would still cooperate in its implementation. He did not say what those reservations were.

Syria, another Hizbollah and Iranian ally which Mr Annan visited, promised to enforce the embargo, Mr Annan said earlier.

Analysts say Iran may have been emboldened in its nuclear standoff by the Lebanon conflict, which Tehran declared a victory for Hizbollah, and is unlikely to want any weakening of Hizbollah, which it sees as part of its regional influence.

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt attacked Iran for meddling in Lebanon, saying his country would suffer if Iran came under pressure or attack from the US.

"If the Americans go ahead and press the Iranians with sanctions and if... they try to strike Iran, it will lead to troubles in Lebanon," he said on Saturday.

Mr Annan's visit to Iran came just days after Tehran failed to meet a UN Security Council deadline to halt sensitive nuclear work, which the US says is aimed at producing a nuclear weapon but which Tehran says is to meet energy needs.

"On the nuclear issue, the president reaffirmed to me Iran's preparedness and determination to negotiate and find a solution to the crisis," Mr Annan said.