An advisor of The Leader of Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei has emphasized that Bashar al-Assad is Iran’s redline, but believes that this is not to deny the Syrian people’s right to choose their rulers.
Ali Akbar Velayati told Lebanon’s Almayadeen news network that Iran’s focus on Syria was to prevent Resistance line fall against Israel. “If Bashar al-Assad falls as Syrian president, Resistance line against Israel would be destroyed,” he asserted.
“Iran believes that reforms should be implemented by Syrian people’s votes and without US supports and recourse to violence, but countries such as Qatar provided weapons to terrorists and recruited terrorist fighters from Afghanistan and Somalia to overthrow the government in Syria and commit assassinations, which indicated conspiracy by foreigners,” he explained.
Velayati stressed the fact of Assad being Iran’s redline, and added that it would not mean denial of Syrian people’s rights to choose their own rulers. “Syria is a UN member; it has a government and its head. No one would intervene and say that Assad must go or remain,” he asserted.
He expressed Tehran’s concerns for the situations of world Muslims, saying that “we support any Muslim, either Sunni or Shiite, and Iran has proved it well during recent incidents.”
The Leader of Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei’s adviser called all Muslims for unity and confrontation of common enemies together. “Uniting Muslims is highly possible, and shared interests would help Muslims avoid any schism among Islamic Umma,” he added.
