PM Salam to Sky News Arabia: The region has had enough of US-Iranian polarization

LBCI

26-05-2025

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the Middle East has grown weary of the ongoing geopolitical polarization between the United States and Iran, expressing hope that Arab countries will re-engage with Lebanon, just as Lebanon is seeking to reconnect with the Arab world.
In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Salam said Arab nations and Lebanon's international allies had lost faith in the country but emphasized that the current government is working "day and night" to regain that trust.
Salam also said efforts are underway to make Lebanon attractive to Arab investors again, and that work is being done to create the right conditions for Lebanese exports to resume to Saudi Arabia.
On the political front, he criticized the selective implementation of the 1989 Taif Agreement, which ended Lebanon's civil war and laid the groundwork for the current political system.
"It was applied selectively, which ruined the political process. We must complete the implementation of what hasn't yet been applied," he noted.
Addressing Lebanon's most sensitive security concern, Salam reiterated the government's position that no weapons should remain outside state authority.
"We will not remain silent on the existence of any arms outside the control of the state," he stated.
Speaking on the issue of armed Palestinian groups in refugee camps, Salam warned that such weapons could spark intra-Palestinian or Palestinian-Lebanese strife. He emphasized that the strength of the Palestinian cause today lies not in arms but in growing international recognition and diplomacy.
"We are trying to put the country on a new path," Salam added. "I cannot predict where this path will lead us, but we are moving in a new direction."