Iran rejects foreign military buildup in Syria

A senior Iranian official has reiterated Tehran’s opposition to military intervention in Syria, saying that would further complicate the tumultuous situation in the conflict-stricken Arab country.

“Five years of conflict in Syria has showed that the country’s problem has no military solution,” Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said in a Tuesday meeting with Ilse Aigner, the Minister for Economic Affairs, Media, Energy and Technology of Germany’s Bavaria State.

The Iranian official criticized any plan to divide countries in the Middle East, saying, “Any partitioning of regional states will not settle issues but will add to their complications.”

He added that any country’s fate should be determined only by its people without any foreign intervention.

Velayati called on all countries to help put an end to the war in Syria and hold election in the country, saying Germany can play a positive role in this regard.

The foreign-backed militancy in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has so far claimed the lives of over 250,000 people and displaced millions.

On October 30, top diplomats from 17 countries, including Iran, as well as envoys from the United Nations and the European Union, gathered in the Austrian capital of Vienna for talks over the Syrian conflict. It was the first time that the Islamic Republic attended such negotiations on Syria.

The participants agreed on respecting Syria’s unity and sovereignty as well as eradicating extremist groups operating in the Arab country. However, they remained at loggerheads over the role President Bashar al-Assad would play in Syria’s political process.