Agence France Presse – Iran is partly to blame for the anti-Israel actions of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia, Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said in an interview published Saturday.
The Iranians "are certainly behind much of the difficulty that’s going on in the region by funding Hezbollah, by supporting them in terms of their activities against Israel," MacKay told The Gazette.
"They have a great deal of responsibility and blood on their hands from their activities," he said.
"Iran, it’s fair to say, has been described an ‘agent provocateur,’" he continued, adding that Syria has served as "a conduit for Iran to perpetrate much of this mischief."
Israel and the United States regularly accuse Iran of arming and financially supporting Hezbollah, which Tehran denies doing.
Israel and Hezbollah were locked in a month-long battle until a ceasefire mandated by a UN Security Council resolution took effect on Monday.
The fighting left 1,300 people dead, mostly Lebanese civilians, while the Israeli bombardment inflicted material damage on Lebanon worth 3.5 billion US dollars, according to the head of reconstruction in Lebanon.
