Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has rejected Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon and other foreign interference, alluding to Iran, as a fifth round of Israel-Lebanon talks began in Washington, AFP reports.

“We accept nothing less than an end to the Israeli occupation and at the same time, the fall of foreign tutelage, because our only option is our national sovereignty and our sole wager is on the Lebanese state,” Aoun says, according to his office.

He has also expressed hope that the new round of talks will be “decisive along the path of achieving what we seek for the good of our nation and people”, namely “the full restoration of Lebanon’s sovereignty over every grain of its soil”.