Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani affirmed that the Iranian-Syrian relations are solid and ”the Syrian people have stood up for the Iranian people during tough times.”
”All the region’s countries have to work towards ending the war in Syria,” Rouhani said during his meeting on Wednesday with his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Suleiman on the sidelines of the 68th United Nations General Assembly meetings.
He expressed concerns over the deteriorating situation in Syria.
On a different note, the Iranian President told PBS channel that ”everyone has to work to extricate the Syrian people from the crisis, and all the region’s countries have to move towards democracy.”
Rouhani blasted the use of chemical weapons by either side in Syria, saying that a thorough and genuine investigation to pinpoint the side which used them is a must.
Zarif, Fabius discuss crisis in Syria
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his French counterpart Laurent Fabius discussed bilateral relations and the crisis in Syria.
Discussions during the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, dealt with the preparation for the international conference on Syria, the chemical weapons issue and the danger of extremism in Syria.
Both sides agreed to conducting political consultations between Iran and France on a regular basis at the level of assistant foreign ministers.
Zarif clarified during the meeting Iran’s position on the crisis in Syria and stressed the need for a comprehensive solution in the framework of Syrian-Syrian dialogue.
He stressed Iran’s rejection of foreign interference in Syria, highlighting the importance of seeking a future for Syria where there is no presence of extremist groups.
The two ministers also discussed the Iranian nuclear file and Iran’s talks with the G5+1 which kicked off today.
For his part, the French Foreign Minister said Paris agrees with Tehran that the situation will get more complicated if the crisis in Syria goes on any longer, in which case there will be more ground for the extremist groups’ activities.
Fabius described the talks which took place Wednesday between President Rohani and the French President Francois Hollande as “good”.
Last Tuesday, Zarif discussed with his British counterpart William Hague the need to reach a political solution to the crisis in Syria and convene ‘Geneva 2’.
Zarif-Hague meeting, which occurred on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, was the first after the formation of the new Iranian government.
Zarif also met his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle in New York and discussed common issues, topped by the crisis in Syria and the Iranian nuclear file.
