BEIRUT: Conflicting accounts emerged Tuesday over the postponement of a visit by the Iranian foreign minister to Beirut.

While some sources said Ali Akbar Salehi adjourned his visit to Lebanon until after he returns from Saudi Arabia where he is expected to attend the funeral of late Saudi Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdel-Aziz Wednesday, other sources said the visit was postponed because of the Iranian president’s condemnation of killings in Syria.Diplomatic sources told The Daily Star Monday that Salehi’s trip to Beirut has been postponed because of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s condemnation of the “killings” in key ally Syria.

Speaking to the state-run National News Agency, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour confirmed that Salehi’s two-day trip to Beirut had been postponed rather than canceled, attributing the development to “urgent engagements.” When contacted by The Daily Star, Mansour was not available for comment.

Salehi was due to meet with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Mansour during his visit to Lebanon Monday and Tuesday.

Diplomatic sources told The Daily Star the visit had been canceled after Ahmadinejad criticized the seven-month bloody crackdown on protesters in Syria. The trip was also due to include Syria and other Arab countries, visits which have also been canceled, the sources said.

“Nobody has the right to kill others, neither the government nor the opponents,” Ahmadinejad told Fareed Zakaria of CNN in an interview broadcast over the weekend.

“We are going to make greater efforts to encourage both the government of Syria and the other side, all parties, to reach an understanding,” he added.

The diplomatic sources described the Iranian president’s remarks as “unprecedented.” One diplomatic source told The Daily Star: “Damascus, unsatisfied with Ahmadinejad’s position, has informed Iran’s foreign minister through diplomatic channels that Syria has no desire to welcome him during his upcoming tour of the region … For this reason, the trip was canceled altogether.”

The source said reports being circulated by the Iranian Embassy in Beirut trying to link the cancellation of the visit to the absence of Sleiman and Mikati from the country are inaccurate, and that the cancellation had been made before Prince Sultan’s death.

Sleiman and Mikati are traveling to Saudi Arabia this week to offer condolences over the death of the Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud.

A Lebanese official told The Daily Star that Salehi had postponed his trip because he will be among the Iranian delegation which is to attend the funeral of the late crown prince.

Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, told The Daily Star such a decision on the part of Syria would not be surprising. “Of course, [it is likely] Syria would cancel such a visit because it was upset by Ahmadinejad’s statements,” Khashan said.

“Syria’s threshold for criticism of its regime is nil,” added Khashan. He said both Iran and Hezbollah are “changing their course” in case the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad is toppled.