Tehran-Damascus ties as solid as ever

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Tehran-Damascus ties are as “solid” as ever despite the US calls on Syria to distance itself from the Islamic Republic.

“Relations between Syria and Iran are brotherly, deep, solid and permanent … Nothing can damage these relations,” President Ahmadinejad said at a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Thursday.

The Iranian president further pointed out that Israel was “on the path to disappearing.”

“If the Zionist entity wants to repeats its past errors, its death will be inevitable,” Ahmadinejad said.

The Syrian president said at the joint news conference that he was “surprised” at US calls for Syria to stop its relations with Iran.

“I am surprised by their call to keep a distance between the countries … when they raise the issue of stability and peace in the Middle East, and all the other beautiful principles,” al-Assad told reporters.

“We need to further reinforce relations if the true objective is stability. We do not want others to give us lessons on our region, our history,” he added.

The Syrian leader also defended Iran’s right to pursue uranium enrichment, despite the threat of new sanctions against Tehran over the country’s nuclear program.

“To forbid an independent state the right to enrichment amounts to a new colonialist process in the region,” the Syrian president concluded.