Youssef Raji, Lebanon’s foreign minister, in part of an interview with the newspaper “Al-Nahar,” whose full version is set to be published on Thursday, August 19, said that the visa of Mohammadreza Shaybani, the Islamic Republic’s ambassador in Beirut who had been declared an undesirable element, will expire on September 2, 1405 (2026) and there is no possibility of extending it.

Raji said: “As soon as a diplomat is declared an undesirable element, he is required to leave the host country’s soil, and the visa, the entry or residence authorization that had been issued for him earlier, has no legal effect for the continuation of his presence.”

He stressed that any discussion about the validity or extension of Shaybani’s visa is “legally invalid” and cannot serve as a basis for his continued presence in Lebanon.