Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned remarks by a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader as “blatant and unacceptable interference” in the country’s internal affairs, after Ali Akbar Velayati had warned against attempts to disarm Hezbollah and questioned the Lebanese army’s ability to defend the nation.

Velayati, a top aide to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on international affairs, said efforts to strip Hezbollah of its weapons “will not succeed, just as they failed in the past,” adding that the group is now “stronger both politically and militarily, and will not allow this conspiracy to pass.”

He hailed Hezbollah as having “protected Lebanon from Israeli occupation in 1982 and forced the enemy to withdraw,” and asked: “If Hezbollah were to abandon its weapons, who would defend the Lebanese people, their land, and their honor?”

Velayati claimed that disarmament demands “serve the interests of the United States and Israel, which seek to replicate the Golan Heights scenario in Lebanon,” and vowed that Iran “rejects the disarmament of Hezbollah and will continue to support the Lebanese resistance.”

He questioned whether the Lebanese government “has any sense of responsibility toward protecting the country and its people if it is putting forward such proposals.”

The Iranian official also warned that “the truce between Israel and Lebanon must not prevent Hezbollah from defending its country,” arguing that “a ceasefire benefits the Zionist entity, and wise voices in Lebanon must prevent the disarmament of Hezbollah and confront U.S. and Israeli schemes.”

In a sharply worded response, Lebanon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Velayati’s comments represented a “flagrant intrusion” into domestic decision-making, adding that “this is not the first such interference, as certain senior Iranian officials have repeatedly persisted in making suspicious statements on purely Lebanese internal decisions that are of no concern to the Islamic Republic.”

The ministry stressed that “such unacceptable practices will not be tolerated under any circumstances, and the Lebanese State will not allow any external party, whether friend or foe, to speak on behalf of its people or claim the right to oversee its sovereign decisions.”

It reminded Tehran’s leadership that “Iran would do better to focus on the needs and aspirations of its own people rather than meddling in matters that do not concern it,” emphasizing that “Lebanon’s future, policies, and political system are decisions made solely by the Lebanese, through their democratic constitutional institutions, free from any interference, dictates, pressures, or overreach.”

The statement concluded that Lebanon “will remain steadfast in defending its sovereignty and will respond in line with diplomatic norms to any attempt to undermine the authority of its decisions or incite against them.”