Israeli regime will regret attacking Syria: Iran’s Jalili

Secretary of Iran Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili has warned against plots hatched by Israel and its allies against the Muslim world, saying the Tel Aviv regime will regret attacking Syria.

“As the Zionist regime [of Israel] regretted its aggression and hostility during its 33-day, 22-day and 8-day wars, it will also regret this attack [on Syria],” Jalili said during a press conference in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Monday.

He added that Syria is an important part of the Muslim world which is at the front line of confrontation with the Israeli regime, emphasizing that the Muslim world would never allow any aggression against Syria.

The SNSC secretary noted that the Syrian government and nation are serious in this regard and reaffirmed the support of the Muslim world for the Arab country.

As the rotating president of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Islamic Republic of Iran will use all its international and legal capacities to back Syria, Jalili pointed out.

He urged Muslim countries to show “necessary reaction” to Israel’s recent airstrike against Syria and prove that the Muslim world is united to defend its entirety and the resistance.

The top Iranian official also warned against plots to cause internal conflicts in the Muslim world in order to reduce the pressure under which the Zionist regime is reeling as a result of unity and resistance of Muslims.

The Syrian army said in a statement on January 30 that two people were killed and five others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a research center in Jamraya, located 25 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of Damascus.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil. The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside.

The SNSC secretary further expressed Iran’s opposition to nuclear proliferation and said Tehran welcomes the establishment of a world free of nuclear weapons.

“We are against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The serious question today is that which country has supplied Israel with nuclear arms. This is a serious question that needs to be addressed internationally,” Jalili said.

He added that Iran defends the right of all countries to access peaceful nuclear energy and emphasized that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Tehran has the right to achieve nuclear energy for civilian purposes.

He reaffirmed Iran’s readiness to proceed with talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, Russia, France, Britain and the US — plus Germany (the P5+1) and called on the six powers to take a constructive approach in future negotiations.

On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the next round of comprehensive talks between Iran and the P5+1 would be held in Kazakhstan on February 25, 2013.

Iran and the P5+1 have held several rounds of talks with main focus on Iranian nuclear energy program. The last round of negotiations between the two sides was held in Moscow in June 2012.

The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the NPT and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.