Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi noted that Prime Minister Tammam Salam shouldn’t be considering a resignation during this critical economic and political phase, noting that the latter had struck out this option due to his keenness on preserving security and stability in Lebanon.

Azzi told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that Salam chose to protect the state and fight off any attempts to strike its authority, noting that he doesn’t only represent Sunni Muslims but the entire Lebanese population as well as the president.

“Iran clearly doesn’t wish for a president to be elected in Lebanon unless he fits the profile it has set as part of its regional project,” Azzi noted, adding that all the crises currently rattling the state were designed and cause to force the country into preset molds pushed by Iran and other foreign powers.

“The main issues lies in certain local and foreign factions’ desire to alter the Lebanese regime that we have known and lived under for over 100 years,” Azzi said, adding that some are also aiming to change the country’s political, social and economic profile.