Beirut (AFP) – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation Saturday, citing Iran’s “grip” on the country and threats to his life.

“I announce my resignation from the post of prime minister,” he said in a speech broadcast from Saudi Arabia by the Al-Arabiya news network.

“I feel… that my life is being targeted,” Hariri said.

The two-time prime minister, whose father Rafik was assassinated when he held the same position in 2005, accused Iran and its powerful Lebanese Shiite ally Hezbollah of seeking hegemony in the region.

The 47-year-old Sunni politician’s resignation comes less than a year after his government, to which Hezbollah’s political wing belongs, was formed.