Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday urged those who consider cabinet meetings as illegitimate to go ahead and elect a president.

Mikati's statement came after a meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, during which they discussed the Taif Agreement, the presidential file and Mikati's visit to the Vatican.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday rejected that a president be “imposed” on the Lebanese as well as “vetoes” on presidential candidates.

A senior military advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei said Sunday that the reconciliation agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia will put an end to the United States’ “hegemony” in the West Asia region.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Friday that “Lebanon needs Lebanese rapprochement, not Iranian-Saudi rapprochement,” a few hours after Tehran and Riyadh announced a reconciliation agreement.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday called for dialogue over Lebanon’s presidential crisis and said an Iranian-Saudi reconciliation announced earlier in the day “can only help” in the file but that no candidates can be “imposed.”

“We welcome any foreign assistance but we do not accept dictations,” Nasrallah said in a televised address.

Higher Islamic Shiite Council deputy chief Sheikh Ali al-Khatib congratulated Friday Iran and Saudi Arabia over their agreement to resume ties after seven years of tensions, and hoped the reconciliation would reflect positively on Lebanon.

Iran and Saudi Arabia earlier on Friday agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies. The major diplomatic breakthrough negotiated with China lowers the chance of armed conflict between the nations — both directly and in proxy conflicts around the region.

Independent MP Charbel Masaad on Friday stormed a bank in the southern city of Sidon to demand that a depositor be paid his money in cash, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The lawmaker, who is still inside the bank, held “banks, the banking system and the central bank governor responsible for people’s suicide,” NNA added.

L'Orient-Le Jour has managed to obtain a non-final list of potential consensual candidates whose names have been discussed between the Christian leaders and Maronite Arbishop of Antelias Antoine Bou Najem.

Here is the list of the candidates who have either announced they were running for president or emerged as potential candidates.

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel who had already vowed to block a presidential vote that would elect Hezbollah's candidate, has said that coordination with the Free Patriotic Movement is possible, on condition that it stops supporting Hezbollah.

FPM MP Alain Aoun had also said Thursday that the FPM might agree with the opposition MPs on a presidential candidate.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday lashed out at the United States and called on the Lebanese to “seek solutions instead of bowing to international conditions.”