IRNA� Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif arrived in Beirut at the head of a politico-economic delegation on Monday for talks with top-ranking Lebanese officials.


The visit to Beirut by Zarif comes a week after Michel Aoun became the Lebanese president, putting an end to a political stand-off that had left the post empty for more than two years.

Apart from meeting with President Aoun in his Beirut visit, the foreign minister is scheduled to meet with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, incumbent prime minister Tammam Salam and Saad Hariri, who has been asked by President Aoun to form a new government.

Zarif will also have a meeting with his Lebanese counterpart Gebran Bassil.

He is also scheduled to meet with representatives of Lebanese national groups and Beirut-based Palestinian resistance groups.

This is Zarif's third visit to Lebanon since he took office three years ago.

After his one-day visit to Lebanon, the foreign minister will begin his tour of Eastern Europe which will take him to Romania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.