Lebanon is in free fall and must not become a "horror story", a US senator said during a visit to Beirut on Wednesday, voicing hope that a government would be formed this week to start addressing its destabilizing financial meltdown.
Another senator in the US congressional delegation said Iranian fuel being shipped to Lebanon by Hezbollah would come with strings attached, dismissing it as an attempted "photo-op by the Iranians".
"Lebanon is in free fall...We've seen this movie before and it's a horror story..., but the good news is it can, should, and hopefully will be avoided," Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters at the end of a two-day visit.
Lebanese politicians, who have failed to do anything to arrest the collapse, have been squabbling for more than a year over the make-up of a new cabinet to replace the one that quit in the aftermath of the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion.
A new cabinet capable of implementing reforms is a necessary precursor to foreign aid. The United States is the biggest foreign aid donor to Lebanon.
The congressional delegation met Lebanese leaders including President Michel Aoun, who expressed hope the government would be formed this week, the presidency said in a statement.
"We did hear good news today," Senator Chris Murphy, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee panel dealing with the Middle East, told reporters, adding he expected a government would be formed by the time he returned home.
Aoun's adversaries accuse him and his faction, the Free Patriotic Movement, of obstructing the government formation by demanding a third of the seats, or effective veto power.
Aoun denies this. Aoun told the senators "many obstacles had been overcome", the presidency said.
The United States has been in talks with Egypt and Jordan over a plan to ease Lebanon's power crisis. The Lebanese presidency has said it involves using Egyptian gas to generate power in Jordan that would be transmitted via Syria, which is under US sanctions including the so-called Caesar act.
"The complication as you know is the transport via Syria," said Senator Chris Van Hollen. "We are (urgently) looking for ways to address that despite the Caesar act."
