BEIRUT: Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad denied Friday rumors that relations between his party and the Free Patriotic Movement were in jeopardy and said the two shared a common vision.

“What has been fabricated of a distancing between us and Gen. Michel Aoun or between us and the Free Patriotic Movement is baseless,” Raad told reporters after meeting Aoun at his residence in Rabieh.

Raad’s comments echoed those of Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, who said Monday ties between his party and its allies in the March 8 coalition were excellent.

“There is a common, clear vision between us and the Free Patriotic Movement ... We have confirmed the need for continued consultations and coordination both in the Cabinet and Parliament,” the Hezbollah official told reporters.

He also said that the meeting was long overdue as a result of the large number of issues at the domestic and regional levels that required discussion.

“The discussions revealed mutual views and stances on many issues,” Raad added.

Raad’s comments come amid reports of a weakening in ties between the March 8 coalition allies, which have a major presence in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Najib Mikati. However, officials have denied the reports.

Asked about possible sanctions on Lebanon if the country fails to pay its $32 million share of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon budget, Raad said: “There is a foreign attempt to sabotage our national sovereignty at the economic, security and judicial levels.”

He also said that Lebanon was confronting this attempt in ways that would guarantee its sovereignty.

Nasrallah has outright rejected the controversial issue of funding the STL and said Cabinet would either reach consensus or a vote on the divisive matter that has threatened to split the government.

“Hezbollah does not agree and is against financing the tribunal,” Nasrallah told Al-Manar television station in a wide-ranging interview.

“We, the callers of consensus democracy, urge that the issue be placed in Cabinet for discussion so we can reach a consensus on it, and if we fail to do that ... then it could be put to vote in Cabinet,” the Hezbollah chief said when asked what his party regarded as the best way of dealing with the matter.

STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare indicted in late June four Hezbollah members of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Hezbollah has denied the allegation, saying that the four “honorable” members would be tried in absentia.