BEIRUT: A regional cover that has shielded Lebanon against the repercussions of regional turmoil is weakening, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk warned Tuesday in a stern appeal to rival political leaders to close ranks and cooperate to resolve a crisis that has left the country without a president for more than 19 months.

Machnouk also said former Prime Minister Saad Hariri was pursuing efforts to protect stability in Lebanon as part of an initiative aimed at facilitating the election of a new president, refuting reports that the initiative had unraveled.

Meanwhile, Speaker Nabih Berri said the presidential election has been frozen due to rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which wield great influence in Lebanon, where they back opposing sides.

“What happened between Saudi Arabia and Iran is a major development that will have major repercussions,” Berri was quoted as saying by visitors at his Ain al-Tineh residence.

“Unfortunately, our utmost ambition now is to maintain dialogue. There are two dialogue [sessions] on Jan. 11, a national dialogue table during the day among heads of parliamentary blocs, and a bilateral dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement,” he said.

Despite the Saudi-Iranian tensions which triggered a new verbal feud between Hezbollah and the Future Movement, Berri said: “So far, there are positive indications that dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement will go on.”

But he warned that the failure to hold the Future-Hezbollah dialogue, designed primarily to defuse sectarian and political tensions fueled by the 5-year-old war in Syria, would send “a very negative message.”

“Lebanon should stay outside strife that will spare no one,” he said.

Referring to the all-party talks bringing together rival March 8 and March 14 leaders he launched last September with the aim of reaching an agreement on the election of a president, Berri said: “After we were seeking to elect a president, our utmost ambition is now to maintain dialogue. The presidential election has been put in the freezer.”Berri’s remarks came shortly after Machnouk warned that the latest Saudi-Iranian tensions over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia would negatively affect the presidential election.

“Saudi Arabia’s decision to sever ties with Iran will have a negative impact on the presidency issue,” Machnouk told reporters after meeting with Beirut Maronite Bishop Boulos Matar.

Describing the regional situation as “much worse than we had wanted,” as a result of the new row between Riyadh and Tehran, he said: “The regional cover that has protected Lebanon for four years so far from fires surrounding it has begun to recede.”

He urged political rivals to do their duties by paying more attention to the internal crisis “amid the disasters plaguing the region.”

Saudi Arabia decided to completely cut off its ties with Iran after angry Iranian protesters, fumed by last week’s Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, stormed and set fires inside the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and the Saudi consulate in the city of Mashhad.

Other allies of Saudi Arabia, such as Bahrain and Sudan, followed suit, while Kuwait pulled its ambassador from Tehran and the United Arab Emirates downgraded its diplomatic presence.

Machnouk said that Hariri’s presidential initiative, backing Frangieh’s candidacy for the country’s top Christian post, was still on track despite internal and external obstacles facing it.

“[Former] Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s presidential initiative is aimed at [achieving] stability and electing a president. The flurry of contacts will not stop,” he said. “Hariri will not stop for a minute his efforts to protect order and stability in Lebanon. It is clear that the main part of this stability is the election of a president.”

The initiative supporting Frangieh’s bid for the presidency has been stalled primarily by strong opposition from the country’s three main Christian parties: the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb Party.

Machnouk, a key Future Movement official, said the Future bloc is consulting with Hariri on whether to continue its dialogue with Hezbollah following the latest war of words between the two sides, sparked off by the Saudi-Iranian row.

He said remarks by MP Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah’s bloc in Parliament, violated the rules of dialogue.

Raad Monday issued a scathing critique of Saudi Arabia and made indirect references to Hariri and the Future Movement, accusing them of serving foreign interests.

The parliamentary Future bloc accused Hezbollah of scuttling the election of a president through an internal political settlement, in a clear allusion to the initiative supporting Frangieh’s candidacy for the presidency.

“Recent statements made by a number of Hezbollah officials strongly show the party’s true stances which are committed to Iran’s policies and its regional calculations based on exercising hegemony and interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries at the expense of Lebanon and the Lebanese,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

“What Hezbollah is seeking, as revealed by statements of its officials, is not only to scuttle any internal settlement, but also to scuttle the election of a new president, obstruct and paralyze the work of Lebanon’s constitutional institutions, with a view to eliminating its democratic formula,” it added.

The bloc strongly denounced Raad’s remarks “in which he expressed the party’s rejection of any internal settlement over the presidential election.” It also rejected Hezbollah’s interference in Saudi affairs.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah blasted Saudi Arabia over Nimr’s execution in a speech Sunday, accusing the kingdom of inciting Sunni-Shiite strife in the world.

Separately, the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag arrived in Riyadh Monday for talks with Saudi officials on Lebanon’s stability.

Kaag’s Saudi visit is “part of her ongoing consultations with regional stakeholders to discuss Lebanon’s stability and security as well as efforts to support Lebanon’s critical humanitarian and developmental needs,” said a statement issued by her office Tuesday.