TEHRAN – Iran's presidential chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi has underscored Iran’s support for Lebanon, saying Tehran is standing by the Lebanese people and government through their hardships.

In a tweet on Friday, Vaezi pointed out that in the aftermath of the massive explosion in Beirut, the Iranian people and government are in solidarity with the Lebanese, and will spare no efforts in helping Lebanon.

The powerful explosion on Tuesday took place at port warehouses storing highly explosive material, specifically ammonium nitrate, commonly used in both fertilizer and bombs, killing 157 people and injuring a whopping 5,000 others.

On Thursday, President Hassan Rouhani assured his Lebanese counterpart Michel Aoun, in a telephone conversation, that the Iranian nation and government would spare no effort in helping the Lebanese government and nation in the aftermath of the catastrophe.

Secretary-General of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has urged an impartial investigation into the blast that rocked Beirut on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking in a televised speech on Friday, Nasrallah said those responsible for the deadly disaster had to be held to account regardless of their affiliations.

Describing the blast as a massive humanitarian and national catastrophe, the Hezbollah chief called on all the Lebanese to unite to overcome the ordeal.

He also dismissed as “injustice” media speculation in the early hours of the tragedy that Hezbollah had stored missiles in the port, adding that those accusations aimed to incite the Lebanese people against the resistance group.

Nasrallah said those media outlets that spread the allegations had had political motivations and sought to incite a civil war in Lebanon.

MH/PA