The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon posited that “by its actions and threats, Hizbollah destabilises the country and jeopardises the country’s economic recovery”, adding that while Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah “accuses us of starving Lebanon”, this was “classic deflection blaming everything on the U.S. when we are [Lebanon’s] largest donor… [Hizbollah] siphoned off billions of dollars that should have gone into government coffers”. The ambassador further maintained that “we continue to have very serious reservations” regarding Prime Minister Diab’s independence from Hizbollah, “and we also have not yet seen what we would have hoped for from this government, in the way of concrete steps to implement reforms”. Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry subsequently summoned the ambassador, and a court issued an order “prohibit[ing] any Lebanese or foreign media outlet operating on Lebanese soil… from conducting any interview with the American Ambassador for a period of one year”.