Iran denies agreement to resignation of Syrian Pres. Assad

A senior Iranian official has rejected rumors about Iran’s agreement to a proposal for the resignation of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, reiterating Tehran’s support for Syrian government.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has clear stances on Syria. Supporting the Syrian people and President Bashar al-Assad’s reform plan have been always a focus of attention for Iran,” the Islamic Republic’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Wednesday.

The Iranian official added that the Islamic Republic has never discussed the issue of al-Assad stepping down.

“Today Syria’s presence in the [anti-Israeli] resistance front is stronger than ever,” Amir-Abdollahian stated.

The official described the recent meeting of Syria contact group as beneficial and said the country’s situation was improving.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists’ are the driving factor behind the deadly unrest while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the violence.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals.