November 8, 2023
No, Iran — Lebanon does not belong to you
Back to Allby Farhad Rezaei & Habib Malik, Senior Research Fellows
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On October 26, 2023, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian gave a speech before the UN General Assembly in which he said the following in the context of defending Gaza against the Israeli retaliatory response to the Hamas attack of October 7:
“It is our home and West Asia is our region. We do not compromise with any party and any side and have no reservations when it comes to our home’s security.”
This statement expressed Iranian imperial designs on Western Asia and seemed to take it for granted that the region in question was an exclusive Iranian sphere of influence. Amirabdollahian’s claim is unfounded, insulting, imperialist, expansionist, and colonialist.
No, Mr. Amirabdollahian, and no, Iran, Western Asia is NOT your region! This claim is unfounded and colonialist. Western Asia is our region, our ancestral domain, and our home alongside other Muslims and Jews. Who are we? We are the native, rooted, and free Christians of Lebanon and the Eastern Mediterranean.