Lebanon's prime minister is threatening to step down over a growing rift with the country's Hezbollah-dominated Cabinet.

Najib Mikati told Lebanon's LBC television late Thursday that he will quit if the Cabinet fails to pay for a U.N. backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri . Mikati said his resignation would help protect Lebanon, which could face new sanctions but it could also plunge Lebanon into a political crisis.

Mr. Hariri and 22 others were killed by a truck bomb in attack in Lebanon's capital, Beirut.

The Hague-based court has issued arrest warrants for four Hezbollah operatives in connection with the killing but so far none of them have been apprehended.

The Lebanese-based Hezbollah militant group has denied involvement in the slaying.