Syrian crisis: view from Tehran

Last week 48 Iranian Shiah pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria. Explaining reasons for kidnapping Iranians, the Syrian opposition militants stated that the so-called pilgrims were soldiers of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corp who came to Syria to spy. The Foreign Ministry of Iran rejects this version. “All of them are pilgrims who came to Damascus to visit sacred places. The operation (kidnapping) was planned, and those who organized it want to influence Iran for it stops supporting Syrian people,” Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran Hussein Amir Abdullahian said.

Commenting on the situation in Syria, Hussein Amir Abdullahian said: “We witness very quick changes in the region of the Middle East. We see that political spheres in Bahrain and Syria are changing. Despite the fact that reforms of Bashar Assad are carried out at a fast pace, we see in Syria foreign interference into affairs of the country. Terrorist groups using some foreign forces have conducted operations in Aleppo and Damascus recently. Along with other terrorist armed groups, Al-Qaeda is acting in Syria. At the same time, American officials and some officials of regional countries export light heavy armaments to the region. Thousands of armament unities came to Syria from some neighboring countries, and some of these armaments go to soldiers of Al-Qaeda. Unfortunately, Americans and other countries do not take steps on control over Syrian borders. Recently a plot was discovered in Damascus. Armed groups, militants took efforts to capture Damascus. However, Syria managed to cope with this stage of the crisis. Now Syrian forces are dealing with the clearance of terrorist groups in Aleppo which is the second most important city in the country.”

Speaking about the similarity of the positions of Tehran and Moscow on the Syrian problem, Abdullahian stated: “We support the people of Syria, support the plan of reforms by President Bashar Assad. We judge foreign intervention and reject terrorist attacks. We believe that the support of militant groups by some countries leads to the fact that instability will spread to neighboring countries. There is no military solution for the Syrian crisis. The way out is political.”

Commenting on the situation in Bahrain, Abdullahian said: “We absolutely reject the double-standard policy of some countries on the situation in Bahrain. Iran provides solid and logical policy on developments in the region. If we speak about Bahrain and Syria, in both countries we reject and judge foreign intervention; we stand for an end to the violence and judge the  murder of a peaceful population. We reject military settlement of the issues. The way out is a national dialogue and composing the government of national peacemaking. We believe that some countries try to bring instability to the region.”