An advisor of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei arrived Monday in Beirut to hold talks with top Lebanese officials, a source from Rafik Hariri International Airport told The Daily Star. "Resolving the political problems in Lebanon concerns the Lebanese themselves, Ali Akbar Velayati told reporters at the airport. "We are confident that thanks to Lebanon's deep-rooted democracy, the country will eventually find a suitable exit [from the existing crisis] and reach an appropriate solution to fill the presidential void." Velayati, a veteran Iranian diplomat and politician, was received at the airport by Hezbollah MP Ali Mokdad, representing the party's leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah. Also at his reception were Iran's Ambassador in Lebanon Mohammad Fathali and Khalil Hamdan, a member of the Amal Movement's presidential bureau. The Iranian official is set to meet with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Tammam Salam during the one-day visit. He will be holding talks with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun at 7p.m., and is also expected to meet with Hezbollah chief, Hasan Nasrallah. Velayati served for 16 years as Iran's foreign minister, and currently heads the Center for Strategic Research, an Iranian think tank on strategy matters that was previously headed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. He also ran in Iran's 2013 presidential elections.
