Lebanon penned a letter to the United Nations in late April, complaining that Iran had violated diplomatic protocol and was conducting unauthorized activities on Lebanese territory, according to a copy of the letter released by Arab and Lebanese media on Wednesday, authenticated by a later statement from the Lebanese Foreign Ministry.
In a statement to local media, the Foreign Ministry said that the letter was not a formal complaint, but a response to letters Tehran sent to the Security Council, according to the Lebanese media site L’Orient Today.
In the letter, dated April 21, 2026, Lebanon accused Iran of violating the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and interfering in Lebanon’s sovereign decision-making, including by refusing to recall former diplomats no longer welcome in the country.
Iran refused to recall its ambassador to Lebanon after Beirut declared Mohammad Reza Shibani persona non grata.
Under Article 9 of the Vienna Convention, “The receiving State may at any time and without having to explain its decision, notify the sending State that the head of the mission or any member of the diplomatic staff of the mission is persona non grata or that any other member of the staff of the mission is not acceptable. In any such case, the sending State shall, as appropriate, either recall the person concerned or terminate his functions with the mission…. If the sending State refuses or fails within a reasonable period to carry out its obligations under paragraph 1 of this article, the receiving State may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the mission.”
Lt.-Col. (Res.) Sarit Zehavi, the founder and president of the Alma Research and Education Center, told The Jerusalem Post that she was unsure if the letter was a sign that Beirut is ready to confront Iran’s influence in the country, but said she thought it was likely an indicator Lebanon was “afraid” of “direct confrontation” if it challenged Iran.
While Beirut may seek help from the UN to enforce international conventions against Iran, Zehavi warned that the UN’s “capability to enforce anything is very, very low,” and Iran’s allies will likely “get into the picture” there.
IRGC accused of illegal acts against Lebanon
The letter also accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of “illegal acts committed in open defiance of decisions by the Lebanese government.”
Tehran alleged that it informed Beirut of the presence of its officials in Beirut’s Ramada Hotel, which Israel struck in March. In addition to hosting key commanders of Iran’s elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, the hotel was also holding a number of individuals displaced by the war, some of whom were injured in the attack.
The Foreign Ministry denied that it had coordinated the IRGC visit with the Iranian embassy and disclosed that some of those killed were not registered as diplomats, which also violates the Vienna Convention. In particular, Beirut denied knowing that Ahmad Rasouli and Amir Moradi, among those who were killed, were in the country.
Rasouli had the senior position of chief of intelligence in the IRGC’s Palestine Corps, and images of Moradi, released by Iranian state media after his death, showed him in IRGC military garb.
“The Iranian conduct, namely, deploying Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps personnel in Lebanon under the guise of diplomatic activity, violates the principle of good faith,” the Lebanese UN representative wrote.
Article 10, as noted by the letter, requires states to inform the host country of “the appointment of members of the mission, their arrival, and their final departure or the termination of their functions with the mission.”
Finally, Beirut complained that the IRGC’s March 11 announcement of joint operations with Hezbollah was “highly concerning.” In “Operation Eaten Straw,” Hezbollah planned to launch around 600 rockets and missiles in coordination with Iran at Israeli territory, according to the Institute for National Security Studies.
This allegedly coordinated attack came less than two weeks after Beirut banned Hezbollah from carrying out military activities.