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Beirut's UN vote on Iran generates controversy

12 June 2010

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s abstention from this week’s UN Security Council vote to impose new sanctions against Iran continued to divide local political figures and groups on Friday.

The Cabinet failed on Wednesday to agree on how to vote on the sanctions and instead told Lebanon’s representative at the Security Council that it had been unable to reach a decision. The envoy in turn abstained from the vote.

Critics of the vote and Beirut’s indecision argued that mediators Brazil and Turkey had been let down by the abstention and that the failure to vote against the measures had only served Israel’s interest. March 14 figures meanwhile defended the abstention.

On Wednesday 14 ministers supported a no vote, with an equal number supporting an abstention. Prime Minister Saad Hariri reportedly phoned Ambassador Nawaf Salam and told him that the government had failed to reach a decision, resulting in the abstention.

The vote in the 15-member council slapped broader military and financial sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear program, despite opposition from Brazil and Turkey.

“The sanctions were aimed against Turkey and Iran equally, as a US and Israeli response to the position of Turkey, which has moved closer to that of Iran with regard to Israel,” said Sports and Youth Minister Ali Abdullah, an Amal Movement official.

“Any position less than that taken by Turkey is a service to Israel,” Abdullah added.

Similarly, Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan said Lebanon, a country whose resistance had “defeated the legendary Israeli army” should have shown as much courage at the UN as Turkey.

Turkey and Brazil voted against the sanctions after brokering a deal with Iran last month under which the Islamic Republic agreed to ship 1,200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium abroad in return for high-enriched uranium fuel for a research reactor in Tehran.

The two mediators argued that the agreement constituted a breakthrough and warranted further diplomatic efforts before imposing sanctions.

Reacting to Lebanon’s abstention from the vote, a senior Shiite cleric railed against calls for Beirut to remain impartial in the impasse between Iran and the international community.

“The word neutrality between the Arabs’ rights and Zionist injustice is suspicious … we question the Lebanese government’s stance that led to refraining from voting against unjust sanctions on Iran,” Shiite Mufti Ahmad Qabalan said during Friday prayers.

In Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, Shiite ministers of the Amal Movement and Hizbullah along with their allies in the Free Patriotic Movement and the four ministers allied with President Michel Sleiman backed opposing the sanctions, while the parliamentary majority ministers along with the Progressive Socialist Party supported an abstention.

Analysts had earlier expressed fear that a decision to side with or against the sanctions would alter the fragile balance between domestic parties and disrupt the recent period of relative stability.

Lebanese Forces official and Batroun MP Antoine Zahra said Friday that “Lebanon could not have prevented the international community from taking its decision,” thus its decision to abstain from voting aimed to preserve Lebanon’s interests with the international community.”

“The president was wise to create balance in the Cabinet so the other [political] side didn’t feel isolated,” Zahra said.

© Copyright The Daily Star 2010.