Iran's Khamenei Says Any Hariri Tribunal Ruling 'Null'

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (right) met with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of slain former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, in Tehran, Tehran five years after the assassination.

Reports from Iran say supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has dismissed as "null and void" any ruling by a United Nations court that is investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.

The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon said on December 9 that it will "very, very soon" file indictments for the February 14, 2005, killing of Hariri and 22 others in a Beirut bomb blast.

The tribunal reportedly plans to indict high-ranking operatives of the Shi'ite movement Hezbollah, Lebanon's most powerful military force -- which is backed by Tehran and Damascus.

compiled from Iranian and international agency reports