Negotiation, sole solution to Syria crisis: Larijani

Iran Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani has noted that the Syrian crisis can be only settled through negotiations between the Syrian government and the opposition.

Larijani made the remarks in a meeting with the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in the Indian capital city, New Delhi, on Wednesday.

“Tehran and New Delhi share the view that Syria’s problems can be only solved through talks between all parties involved in the conflict, not via military means and use of force,” he added.

Larijani went on to say that the Islamic Republic believes in further promotion of democracy in Syria.

“Contrary to the Western countries’ claims that they are concerned about democracy in Syria, Iran [believes in] the democracy which the Syrian people want. Meanwhile, some countries in the region, which are allies of the world powers, do not have democracy and some regional countries act on the basis of their delusions in Syria,” the Iranian official noted.

Larijani also pointed to the recent meeting between Iran and the world powers of the P5+1 group on Tehran’s nuclear energy program and described the talks as positive.

The Iranian Majlis speaker further stated that the Islamic Republic proposed a different package of proposals during the recent meeting with the P5+1 — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, and France plus Germany — which was held in the Kazakh city of Almaty on February 26 and 27.

Iran and the P5+1 group have held several rounds of talks with the main focus on Iran’s nuclear energy program.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program. Over the false allegation, Washington and the European Union have imposed several rounds of illegal unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Iran refutes the allegation and argues that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted toward military objectives.