No sooner had Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, cancelled a trip to Beirut this week, than the Iranian foreign minister arrived in the Lebanese capital.

Reiterating Iran’s support for an immediate end to the fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas, Manouchehr Mottaki denounced “the horrendous crime” of Sunday’s Israeli raid on Qana killing many civilians, pushing the Lebanese government to tell Ms Rice that it could not hold negotiations before a ceasefire was announced.