TEHRAN -- Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammadreza Sheibani said on Saturday that helping Lebanon resolve its current political crisis is among Iran’s top priorities, As-Safir newspaper reported.

In a meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Sheibani asserted that any political move in Lebanon should be aimed at unifying the Lebanese nation.
The government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and the opposition has been engaged in a bitter power struggle over who should be chosen to replace the current President Emile Lahoud, whose term expires on November 24.
“I am willing to herby reiterate that Iran’s diplomacy has utilized all its political and diplomatic abilities to help the Lebanese nation and political leaders to reach a consensus in order to resolve the current problems, and one of Iran’s main priorities is helping the Lebanese nation resolve its problems,” Sheibani stressed.
On parliament majority leader Saad Hariri’s accusations that Iran is preventing Lebanon settle its internal issues, Sheibani said, “I believe such stances will not help resolve current Lebanese crisis. It is better to be realistic and try to reach a consensus and prevent creation of atmospheres which would lead to a failure on achieving a consensus” about the current problems.
“Nabih Berri is optimistic (about resolving the Lebanon crisis) and we are optimistic too,” the Iranian envoy said.
Lebanon's president must be a Maronite Christian according to the country's constitution and is elected by parliament rather than by popular suffrage.
Three special parliament sessions to elect a successor to Lahoud have already been postponed because of the deadlock and there are fears that a last-chance vote on November 21 could meet the same fate.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned Lebanese leaders Friday that their country stood on the brink of an ""abyss"" if they failed to put their differences aside to elect a new president by November 23.
""If the responsibilities are not shouldered, there might be a move to the brink of an abyss,"" the UN chief said after holding talks with members of the Western-backed ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition.
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema met Lebanese leaders on Saturday, in a last-minute push to choose consensus candidates for next week's presidential poll. D'Alema, who arrived in Beirut overnight, began a series of meetings with members of the Western-backed ruling coalition and the opposition.
The Italian minister held talks with Saad Hariri, Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun and was also due to meet with Siniora, Berri as well as Maronite Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir.
D'Alema's talks in Beirut were meant to highlight ""the necessity to find a compromise candidate,"" an Italian diplomatic source told AFP. Italy heads the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.
Sfeir injected fresh momentum into the search for a solution on Friday, when he drew up a list of candidates to the presidency.
French charge d'affaires Andre Parant, whose country is leading international efforts to end the crisis, said the cardinal submitted the list on Friday to Berri and Hariri.
""Berri has received the list and he is expected to discuss it with Saad Hariri so that they can agree on a consensus candidate,"" a source close to Berri told AFP on Saturday. Berri would not disclose the number or names of candidates on the list, the source said.
On Saturday, the leading An Nahar daily quoted Berri as saying that he will discuss the list with parliament majority leader Saad Hariri, and if they ""agree on one or two or three consensus candidates we will go to parliament ...and let the best man win.""
On Saturday, Beirut newspapers provided lists varying from six to 12 potential candidates. All of them included three declared candidates -- Nassib Lahoud and Boutros Harb, both of whom are backed by the ruling majority, and Michel Aoun from the opposition.
Other potential candidates named by the media were Robert Ghanem, a lawyer and member of parliament, top banker Joseph Tarabay and former finance minister Damianos Kattar.
Lebanon has been mired in political crisis since the 2005 assassination of Saad Hariri's father, former billionaire prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
Hariri's murder triggered international and domestic protests that forced Syria to end 29 years of military domination in Lebanon.