Escalation of Iran-West conflict ploy to distract Tehran from Syria - expert

Iran and Syria need cooperation in order to struggle against common enemies. And so Western countries are trying to worsen the situation surrounding Iran's nuclear program in order to distract Tehran from developments in Syria, Rajab Safarov, the head of Iranian Studies Center, said.

"Western states do their best to prevent Iran from helping Syria," the expert says.

"Iran and Syria currently have a military agreement, according to which they are to protect each other in case of an enemy attack," he underlines.

Safarov believes that the Western attitude to Iran is based on Western countries' desire to control the Islamic Republic's natural resources.