Salehi: People’s demands should be met in course of regional developments

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Thursday that the Islamic Republic of Iran believes that people’s demands should be met in the course of developments taking place in the region.

He made the remarks in his address at a consultative meeting on Syrian which kicked off in Tehran under the theme of “Denouncing violence and encouraging national dialogue”. Representatives from 30 countries are participating in the meeting.

The meeting aims to help the Syrian people find a way out of current crisis and put an end to the country’s violence and bloodshed, he said.

Iran always calls for peaceful means to resolve the disputes and restore tranquility through political reforms and meeting the people’s demands, Salehi said.

Iran is strongly against killing of civilians from both sides, he said.

Iran fully backed Kofi Annan’s plan, he said, adding that the UN envoy visited Tehran twice and Tehran spared no efforts to help him attain the goals of his mission, he said.

Iran believes that the crisis should be resolved through peaceful means and dialogue, he said, adding that in the past Iran had always played a positive role in resolving regional crises such as those in Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Syrian crisis should be resolved through talks and a national resolve, he underlined.

Tehran has voiced readiness to host mutual talks between the Syrian government and dissiden groups in a bid to resolve disputes between them, he said.

International sanctions not only would not serve the Syrian nation but would on the contrary bring them more sufferings, he said.

Iran has shipped humanitarian relief aid including pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and ambulances to Syria, he said.

All countries in the world somehow play specific roles in Syria developments and all should accept that the issue should be resolved through talks and political means, said the Iranian foreign minister.

Worsening of the crisis, arming the dissident groups and preparing grounds for presence of extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda can never help resolve the crisis but would worsen it, he said.

Foreign ministers and representatives from 28 Asian, African and Latin American countries are taking part in the consultative meeting in Tehran on Syria themed “Denouncing violence and upholding national dialogue.”

Present in the meeting are the foreign ministers of Iran, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Iraq as well as the Iraqi minister of national security along with representatives from other countries participated.

Deputy foreign ministers of seven countries, foreign ministry directors general from two countries and ambassadors of 15 countries along with representative of UN office in Tehran have taken part in the meeting.