U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday accused Hizbullah of exercising "political assassination," as he condemned Iran's support for "extremists" in the region.

Speaking at the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC Policy Conference, Obama pointed to Iranian "hypocrisy" in "claiming to support the rights of protesters" in the region "while treating its own people with brutality."

U.S. President Barack Obama vowed Sunday to "keep up pressure" on Iran to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons and forcefully defended his call for an Israeli-Palestinian peace based on pre-1967 frontiers, suggesting critics had misrepresented him.

Outlining U.S. and U.N. sanctions imposed on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime, Obama said Iran is now "virtually cut off from large parts of the international financial system."

The March 8 forces have expressed pessimism at solving the cabinet deadlock soon, saying contacts between Premier-designate Najib Miqati and the different parties of the March 8 forces have been in a standstill since last Wednesday.

The circles of the new parliamentary majority told An Nahar daily published Sunday that although Miqati stayed in touch with Hizbullah and Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal movement, the different sides are not expected to meet with the premier-designate next week.

Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah held talks with visiting Iranian deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Reza Shebani and his accompanying delegation that included Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Rokn-Abadi.

The Hizbullah chief is scheduled to make a television appearance on the occasion of Liberation Day on Wednesday during which he will issue “clear positions” on Syria, informed Lebanese sources told the Saudi Okaz newspaper in remarks published on Saturday.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s amended indictment includes names of Syrian officials involved in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination, said the French daily Le Figaro.

According to the article written by George Malbrunot, French intelligence agencies provided the STL with information about Syria’s involvement in the murder.

Hizbullah will reportedly make a new initiative to put back the cabinet formation efforts on track after the latest deal on the name of retired Internal Security Forces Maj. Gen. Marwan Charbel collapsed.

An Nahar daily said Tuesday that Hizbullah might move in the next few days to find a consensual exit to the government impasse.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said on Saturday that the main parties involved in the cabinet formation, especially Hizbullah and Syria, want a confrontational government.

“Hizbullah and Syria are heading towards a confrontational cabinet, while President Michel Suleiman and Premier-designate Najib Miqati want a cabinet that is closest possible to the Lebanese reality,” Geagea told Free Lebanon radio.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea blasted Hizbullah on Thursday for allegedly targeting the country’s democracy saying Lebanon’s problems would not be solved without a solution to the Shiite party’s arms.

“We are living today in a state of emergency and have a problem given the presence of an armed party” that cripples “democratic work,” Geagea told a visiting delegation from the Popular University in Batroun.

Some sides in the March 14 forces have begun to wonder whether Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat’s latest position towards the new majority is a sign that he is leaving the camp, reported the daily An Nahar on Tuesday.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea noted that Jumblat “is becoming fed up with the current situation in Lebanon and I don’t know whether that will force him to change his political position.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday called for forming a technocrat cabinet, describing that as “the only solution to rescue the country from the current impasse.”

“A national unity cabinet is out of the question because we can’t reach an agreement on the major issues,” Geagea added in an interview with MTV.