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Press TV has conducted an interview with Redwan Rizk, political commentator from Beirut, about members of Lebanon’s parliament failing for a fourth time to elect a new president for the country three days before President Michel Sleiman's term expires.

Press TV: The Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition we have on one side and the March 14th coalition led by Saad al-Hariri, it is said that obviously somebody needs to come out to represent both sides and their interests.

We know that it become evident that Michel Aoun and Samir Geagea, they were not able to do that, and we had Jumblatt's choice Helou, Jumblatt termed him as ‘voice of moderation’, he also lost some traction there.

So at this point is there somebody that is going to be able to come out and be the consensual candidate?

Rizk: Well it is very early to talk about choosing or being able to choose a candidate who can gather most of the votes or backing from the political groups in Lebanon.

First there is a problem among the Christians themselves. They are divided between 8th of March forces and the 14th of March forces. As you know that there are four candidates from the Maronite Christian in Lebanon. Amin Gemayel is one of them, Boutros Harb and then Samir Geagea and Michel Aoun.

Michel Aoun is not a candidate yet. He said that I won’t go to the election session in the Parliament House if just to be elected. I want everybody to agree that I am the legitimate candidate to lead the country out of its problems.

So far this condition is not provided yet and it is not yet there ...

Press TV: How about I throw a name in here to get your idea Redwan Rizk. Lebanon’s Army Chief General Jean Kahwaji, would he have a chance? Some reports say that he might be in the running here?

Rizk: Well there are two names kept behind this kind of chaos , is Mr. Riad Salameh, the Central Bank chief president, and Jean Kahwaji is the army chief commander also. So those two names kept behind the talks and behind the scenes, maybe they are keeping them till they are easy to agree on from all sides, but things now are very tight and I don’t think any of the names who are being thrown in this battle can gather a majority behind them and can be an eligible candidate for president.

Press TV: Redwan Rizk, you talked about Saudi Arabia extending an invitation to Iran. By the way Iran has said officially that they have not received an invitation as of it yet but we know the Saudi Foreign Minister extended invitation to our Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Now tell us, what can come out of that? It is said it is a warming of ties Redwan Rizk, but it is also said that Saudi Arabia wouldn’t have done this were there not to be concessions to be exchanged.

How and what types of concessions could be exchanged that would affect for example politics in Lebanon or in this case and point the next president of Lebanon?

Rizk: Well I think that despite the ..., let’s talk about the invitation and the official invitation coming from Saudi Arabia to the Iranians. I believe that serious talks have begun behind the scenes and very quiet between the Iranians and the Saudis and that led to the formation of the Lebanese government couple of months ago and now we have seen a very strong and great deal done in Homs also led to evacuating 2,800 ... [militants] outside of Homs which has made Homs a peaceful city now. It is totally out of all military operations.

So the Saudis I believe are reconsidering all their policies in the region and they will recalculate everything in Lebanon and in Syria also so that they will try to re-build up their policies up on a new schedule and new relations with the political groups in Lebanon and Syria, and maybe in the region also.

It is not only in Lebanon and Syria and that might need a bit more time and that might delay the election or the presidential election and the candidates have to wait till things will [ripen] and that the talks could build up some sort of trust. Trust is not there so they have to re-build some kind of trust between both parties which allow them to have or to reach an agreement upon the next president of Lebanon.

Press TV: Well you talked about the fact that they need more time Redwan Rizk, and you talked about the fact that trust needs to be built during this time.

I am going to look at the time frame and get your reaction, if I may, on June 3rd. That is when Syria’s next president is going to be picked and of course many are saying that it is going to be Bashar al-Assad.

Do you think there is a chance that perhaps Iran and Saudi Arabia are going to wait out until that happens in order to move forward with any type of rapprochement that is going to be possibly happening between the two countries?

Rizk: Well I can assure you that no president in Lebanon before June the 3rd. We are expecting somehow, our information saying that the election in Lebanon we will not see a president before September because this has to wait after the presidential election in Syria.

Second, the talks have not seriously begun in the opens, still behind the scene and under the table. So things might need a bit of more time and also that the groups in Lebanon are still very tense and they have not yet understood the situation or the changes that have been done or being done in the region.

They are still saying, they are still [speaking] very hard, the hard liners, especially the Lebanese forces which held a press conference by Samir Geagea today and he was very hard and he [used] very strong language against his opponents, so things to be eased and for him to understand that might take time before he can realize that it is impossible for Lebanon to elect or to have a president with the history like Samir Geagea.

Press TV: I want to ask you Redwan Rizk how the US is going to go about it? The most recent indication officially was when this acting Assistance Secretary Lawrence Silverman, he addressed the House of Foreign Affairs Committee on April 8th in the US, he blasted Hezbollah during that speech that he gave mainly for the fact that Hezbollah assisted Syria in its fight against these terrorists.

So if they are against Hezbollah, and that is not really new news, how will they be able to, what kind of plans could the US have to try to influence how Lebanon goes about picking the next president?

Rizk: Well we have to admit something. If you know the history of the presidential election in Lebanon, we never had total independence and hardly the Lebanese had something to say about the name of the president.

We all know that super powers and regional powers have some talks to agree on the name of the president. Now the Americans are stuck in a way, they are trying to build some sort of talks between Saudi Arabia and the Iranians so the president could come with a solution of the Lebanese crisis because as we know that the Hezbollah sit in Syria and it was somehow that the Saudis were involved in Syria and they are concerned about the changing in Syria so Hezbollah was there so it was kind of confrontation between the Saudis and their agenda in Syria and the agenda of Hezbollah and the main concern was how to protect the Lebanese resistance because as we know that Lebanon without its resistance it is totally disarmed and it has no umbrella on top of its roof and has no kind of, any kind of protection.

So despite the billions of dollars which was donated by the Saudis and we all know the fact that the Saudis did not offer that just as a donation, they had some political plan behind this donation to the army. They wanted to strengthen the army in order to be able to attack the resistance. That is the main cause and the main purposes behind this kind of donations.

Otherwise, the Iranian offered to arm the Lebanese army years ago with anything that they could ask without any limitations for billions or anything. So the refusal came from the president himself, Mr. Michel Sleiman. He totally refused any talks about any donations coming from the Iranians because he did not want to accept that, maybe the 14th of March did not allow him to do that or to accept that and also the [Persian] Gulf countries did not allow him to accept that.

So how can all of a sudden without any talks or serious talks with the Lebanese government because he needs the approval of the Lebanese government accepted the donation from the Saudis ...