“Salehi currently has no plans for traveling to Lebanon,” Roknabadi said on Saturday.
Some Lebanese news outlets reported on Friday that the Iranian foreign minister might pay an hours-long visit to Lebanon on Saturday.
Roknabadi said Arab media probably thought Salehi intended to travel to Lebanon because of the Iranian foreign minister’s conversation with his Lebanese counterpart Adnan Mansour on Friday following the terrorist attack in Beirut.
At least eight people were killed and more than 78 others injured in a bomb explosion in the Lebanese capital. The intelligence chief of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces, General Wissam al-Hassan, was also among those killed in the blast.
The explosion occurred in Beirut's eastern Ashrafiya district, which is a predominantly Christian district, and near the headquarters of the Phalange, a Maronite Christian party, during the rush hour as parents were picking up their children from school. Several buildings were damaged and many cars caught fire as a result of the blast.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the government was trying to identify the perpetrators and that they would be punished.
In a telephone conversation with Mansour, Salehi condemned the attack and stressed the importance of maintaining unity among all Lebanese groups in the current sensitive situation in the region.
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Iran's Ambassador to Beirut Ghazanfar Roknabadi says the country’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has no plans to visit the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
News ID 183112
