Iran’s President-Elect: Syrian People Should Decide Own Fate

TEHRAN – Iran’s President-Elect Hassan Rouhani underlined the Islamic Republic’s support for a peaceful and political solution to the crisis in Syria, saying that the country’s people should decide their own fate,according to FNA.

“Syria’s people are in charge of resolving the crisis and the Syrian nation is the final decision-maker in Syria who determines the fate of that country …,” Rouhani said in his first press conference after winning the presidential election on Friday

He underlined Iran’s strong opposition to terrorism, and expressed the hope that “peace and tranquility would be restored in Syria soon with the help of the regional and the world countries, and that whatever happens in Syria would be exactly what the Syrian nation wants.”

Iranian officials have repeatedly underlined that Tehran is in favor of negotiations between the Syrian government and “opposition groups” to create stability in the Middle Eastern country.

Last November, Iran hosted a meeting between the representatives of the Syrian government and opposition to encourage them to start talks to find a political solution to their problems. The National Dialogue Conference kicked off work in Tehran mid-November with the motto of ‘No to Violence, Yes to Democracy”.

The meeting brought together almost 200 representatives of various Syrian ethnicities, political groups, minorities, the opposition, and state officials.

M.D