Iran reaffirms support for Annan’s peace plan for Syria

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has reiterated Iran’s support for the peace plan proposed by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to settle the Syrian unrest.

“We support Annan’s plan and consider it as the only sensible way (for Syria) to get out of this situation,” Salehi said Tuesday.

On March 11, Annan said he had presented a set of concrete proposals to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during two rounds of talks in Damascus. His six-point plan was to begin with a ceasefire in mid-April between government forces and rebels fighting the Syrian government.

He made the remarks in a meeting with visiting deputy undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Halit Cevik, who has travelled to Tehran to attend the Iran-Turkey political committee on Tuesday.

The Iranian foreign minister reiterated Tehran’s readiness to host talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups and expressed hope that peace and stability would be restored in the Arab country.

Salehi also dismissed assumptions that the Syrian government would be ousted as ‘unjustifiable’.