Since Nasrallah died, Iran controls Hezbollah directly - Lebanon’s PM

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has delivered a stinging assessment of Iran's role in his country's affairs, telling the British daily The Times that Tehran's rejection of the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire agreement was not merely a political stance,  it was a deliberate signal that Iran considers itself the ultimate decision-maker in Lebanon.

"Iran wanted to make the world understand that Lebanon is nothing but a pawn," Salam said, noting that Tehran announced its position before any official declaration from Hezbollah itself, a sequence he described as revealing the full extent of Iranian influence over the Shia movement.

The Lebanese prime minister went further, asserting that Iran's Revolutionary Guards had extended their grip beyond Hezbollah's military and security apparatus to encompass the party's decision-making process itself. 

Crucially, Salam suggested that the late Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel in 2024, had enjoyed considerably more autonomy than the current Hezbollah leadership, implying that Iranian control has become more direct and decisive since his death.

Salam also made clear that Lebanon's reconstruction could only proceed through the Lebanese state and its official institutions, a pointed rejection of any parallel channels that would allow Hezbollah or Iran to control the post-war rebuilding process.

The remarks represent some of the most candid public criticism of Iranian interference in Lebanese affairs ever made by a sitting Lebanese prime minister.