2023-06-15 21:27:33
A spokesman for the US State Department revealed that Washington is “studying and benefiting from all available diplomatic tools,” in response to the possibility of imposing sanctions on the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri.
“As a general practice. We don’t discuss any potential sanctions, but I will say that the administration is considering and taking advantage of all the diplomatic tools at our disposal to encourage Lebanese politicians to come to terms and elect a president as soon as possible,” Matthew Miller confirmed in his daily press conference.
Commenting on a question to Al-Hurra whether the US State Department is grateful to the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, who was contacted at the beginning of the week by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, and thanked him for his desire to try to maintain a quorum in Parliament and hold an open session of the Parliament, Wednesday, in order to elect a president for the republic and his failure to achieve this, Miller said: “We were disappointed with this result.”
“We will continue to take advantage of all the diplomatic tools available to us to encourage the Lebanese political class to find consensus and elect a president,” the US official said.
“The Lebanese people deserve more than one voting session. They desperately need a president who can make reforms to unlock IMF support. For that to happen, we believe Parliament must continue to convene in the coming days and weeks,” Miller added.
And regarding whether the United States considers the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament a friend or ally, Miller replied, “I will not answer this question other than to say: We generally do not support or comment on any particular political figure or party out of respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty. We will work with any government it chooses.” the Lebanese people.”
And the Lebanese parliament failed, on Wednesday, for the twelfth time to elect a president for the republic, amid an intensifying political division between Hezbollah and its opponents, which threatens to prolong the presidential vacancy.
Since the end of the term of the former President, Michel Aoun, at the end of October last year, Parliament has failed to elect a president, as no party has a majority that enables it alone to bring its candidate to the position.
For months, the country has been running a caretaker government that is unable to take necessary decisions, at a time when Lebanon has witnessed, since 2019, an economic collapse that the World Bank ranked among the worst in the world. Since 1850, the international community requires urgent reforms in order to provide financial support.
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