US Outraged as Iran Offers to Replace Military Aid to Lebanon

Replacing US Aid Would 'Compromise Lebanon's Sovereignty'

The US State Department has reacted with outrage today after the Iranian government offered to provide military aid to Lebanon to make up for what was lost when the US pulled all such aid yesterday.

Incredibly enough, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley suggested that Iran’s military aid would “compromise Lebanon’s sovereignty,” yet no similar concerns were voiced when the US was providing much larger amounts of aid to the exact same country.

In fact, Crowley insisted US military aid had the opposite effect, and was actually helping “expand the capabilities of the government and thereby improve its sovereignty over its territory.”

Rep. Howard Berman (D – CA) announced yesterday that he was pulling all military aid to Lebanon because of last week’s border clash with Israel. In the clash one Israeli soldier was killed, prompting Israeli shelling which killed three Lebanese soldiers and a journalist.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.