Syrians' Right to Decide Own Fate Needs to Be Respected, Says Iranian Official


Syrians' Right to Decide Own Fate Needs to Be Respected, Says Iranian Official

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – From the onset of the deadly crisis in Syria, Tehran has always called for a political solution and is happy that some other parties have belatedly come to this realization,secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said Sunday.

In a meeting with Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab League special envoy for Syria, Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani complained of the double standards practiced by some powers towards the issue of terrorism , and said all countries should refrain from interfering in Syria in search of their own interests and said the interests of the Syrian people should take center stage.

He further expressed Iran's readiness to participate in finding a political solution to the impasse in Syria and said Tehran would continue with its humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, more than six millions of whom have been forced from their homes due to the prolonged crisis that has shown no signs of abating.

From the very begining, Iran strongly beleived that the Syrian conflict was only resolvable through diplomatic and political approaches , and is now happy to see that some other players in the Syrian fray have come to this realization, however belatedly, Shamkhani said, who emphasized that opposing groups in Syria need to come to the negotiating table without any preconditions to find a Syrian-Syrian settlement to the stalemate.

The UN special envoy, too, referred to Iran’s precious role in regional crises, and particularly in Syria and asked for the Islamic Republic’s cooperation with the UN in seeking a political solution for the Syrian crisis and putting an end to the ongoing human catastrophe there.

Brahimi also considered Iran’s presence in Geneva II Conference of great importance and expressed hope that the international gathering would contribute to preparation of the ground for eventual compromise among different Syrian factions.

On Saturday Brahimi said Iran should be invited to planned peace talks in Geneva.

"We believe that the participation of Iran in the Geneva conference is natural and necessary as well as fruitful, so we are hopeful that this invitation is made," Lakhdar Brahimi told a news conference in Tehran after meeting Iran's foreign minister.

"The secretary general of the United Nations, I and lots of other people, we are waiting, we want to see Iran take part in the conference," he added.

Earlier this month, the US State Department said that Washington would be open to Iran taking part in a Geneva 2 conference if it supported the Geneva 1 statement which called for a transitional authority to rule Syria, but Tehran has rejected this, saying it was unacceptable to set conditions on its attendance

The final communiqué issued on June 30, 2012, following the meeting of the so-called Action Group for Syria called for an immediate cessation of violence and the establishment of a transitional government that could include officials serving under President Bashar al-Assad and members of the opposition.

Although several officials, including Arab League chief Nabil El- Araby and Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil have said they expect the Geneva 2 conference to convene on November 23, the United States, Russia and the United Nations have all said no date has been officially set.

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