Certain countries presence in Syria illegitimate: Official

Shamkhani, who is in the Russian resort city of Sochi to attend the Forum of Five Continents High Security Officials, made the remarks in a meeting with the Secretary of Russian National Security Council Nikolai Patrushev on Tuesday night.

During the meeting, the two officials discussed a wide range of issues of mutual interest including the pace of mutual cooperation in the field of fighting terrorism, Yemen crisis, developing insecurity in Afghanistan as well as transporting defeated terrorist groups from Syria to Central Asian countries.

Referring to the crucial role of Iran and Russia in eliminating increasing threat of terrorism in Syria, Shamkhani slammed some countries for their illegitimate presence in the country.

Describing Astana and Sochi political meetings as guarantor of continued ceasefire in de-escalation zones and a means to end hostilities and bloodshed in Syria, he said with the attack of the Zionist regime on T-4 Base and dealing a blow to those providing advisory services to Syria at its own request the true nature of real sponsors of the terrorists was revealed.

Criticizing inattention to Iran and Russia’s proposal for launching independent and impartial probe into alleged chemical attack on Douma and missile strike on the country by the US, UK and France, he said that the recent gas attack are aimed at preparing the grounds for undermining political mechanisms for solving Syrian crisis.

Lending continued support to the Syrian Army and Popular Forces to purge remnants of terrorists and pushing forward political initiatives simultaneously is an unavoidable strategy to end security crisis in the country, Shamkhani said.

Patrushev, for his part, expressed pleasure with Shamkhani’s presence in the security meeting, saying that the meeting amounts to a joint attempt by over 100 countries from five continents to substitute dialogue and understanding for militarism and violence.

Hailing the upward trend of bilateral ties in various fields, he described Iran-Russia experience of close cooperation in fighting terrorism as very successful, saying that the experience is applicable to political and security cooperation among Central Asian states.

Some countries are displeased with success of Iran-Russia cooperation, he said, warning against their all-out and suspicious attempts to undermine such collaboration.

The US has been trying to deal economic and political blows to Iran and Russia to restrict their stabilizing activities, but it will get nowhere in this respect, he said.

Condemning US bad promises regarding JCPOA, Patrushev reiterated Russia’s decisive support for the Iran nuclear deal, believing that Iran should benefit from the international pact without limitations.
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