President Raisi to Syrian media: There should be no Turkish forces on any part of the Syrian territory

Interviewed by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) and the Syrian TV during his recent visit to Syria, Iranian President Ebrahm Raisi reaffirmed Iran’s support for the Syrian people and the axis of resistance. He also reiterated that Syria’s stance has been right and that despite all threats and sanctions, Syria has maintained its firm stance in rejection of the forces of evil in the world and in support for rightness and peace.

Raisi pointed out that the Americans occupied some parts of Syria to loot the country’s national wealth and to achieve the goals that they failed to achieve through terrorism, however, the Syrian people’s resistance will foil the Americans’ schemes and Syria will achieve victory at the end.

During the interview, President Raisi explained that the concerns of Syria’s neighboring countries end when all the Syrian territories return to the Syrian state sovereignty, stressing that there should be no Turkish forces on any part of the Syrian land.

Four and a half decades of distinguished relations

Raisi highlighted the strong relations between Syria and Iran which have witnessed great development during the past four and a half decades; that is after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

The stances of the late President Hafez Al-Assad were principled as regards to supporting the Palestinian cause, liberating Al-Quds and enhancing the resistance front. The stances of President Hafez Al-Assad against the Zionist entity were strong and right and these stances were maintained under the leadership of President Bashar Al-Assad, he clarified.

He added “the relations between our two countries have grown continuously, as the axis of evil led by the Zionist entity and the United States continued to hatch different conspiracies against Syria through supporting takfiri and terrorist groups with the aim of undermining the country’s stability and security and dividing it.

The president pointed out that the United States is the one that created ISIS and other takfiri groups, yet it lies and keep claiming that it wants to fight terrorism.

“Despite all threats and sanctions, Syria has maintained its firm stance in rejection of the forces of evil in the world and in support for rightness and peace, and we, in Iran, think that the Syrian stance is right and we insist on supporting the Syrian people and the axis of resistance”, Raisi said.

Syria is not a poor country, it is rich with its people, agriculture, and natural resources

Concerning the difficult economic conditions in Syria due to the repercussions of the terrorist war and the unilateral coercive measures imposed on the country, President Raisi said “Syria is not a poor country; rather it is rich with its people, agriculture and natural resources that can enable it to achieve great economic growth. However the US troops occupied some parts of it to loot the resources in front of the entire world.”

He added that “the US and some western countries are allies with the Zionist entity. They couldn’t weaken Syria militarily, so they have been trying to weaken it economically by imposing an unfair severe economic blockade that affected all walks of life in the country, but, no doubt, the Syrian people’s steadfastness and resistance will foil this plot and triumph at the end.”

Indications of new world order

On the indications of a new world order being created, Raisi said “the situation in the region has completely changed. New relations, alliances and blocs have been established in the world, such as Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in which Iran is a member, and the BRICS organization and other cooperation blocs are all indications of a different new world order. In the opposite side, the abilities of the United States and western countries are declining continuously and even the friends no longer trust them. The United States used to frighten all by its military power, but its presence in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries has proved its fragility, as it its presence led to blood shedding, killings and injuries and massive destruction.”

Today, we see that the circumstances have changed and the balance of power is not in favor of the United State and the west militarily and economically. The dollar is being replaced by other currencies, and financial transactions are using national currencies,” Raisi clarified.

Raisi went on to say that “the Zionist entity, today, is in a worse situation than before. The Zionists haven’t been able to confront resistance groups in Palestine as they are occupiers and the land of Palestine is not theirs. They couldn’t undermine resistance neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank and even they are no longer talking about negotiations because they know that no one trusts them”.

Iranian-Saudi reconciliation

On the Iranian-Saudi reconciliation, Raisi said Iran and Saudi Arabia are two big important countries and the return of normal ties between them will change and balance the equations in the region.

“We completely refuse to consider Saudi Arabia as an enemy and Iran never considered itself as an enemy of Saudi Arabia. Today, facts have become clear to many countries in the region and the Iranophobia that the United States and Israel have been talking in the media about aimed at spreading terror in the region”, he made it clear.

Iran plays a mediation role between Syria and Turkey

On Iran’s role in the process of restoring the Syrian-Turkish relations, President Raisi said that “we have stressed that the Syrian territories, which are occupied or controlled by other parties, should return to the sovereignty of the Syrian state. Our friends in Turkey told us that they feel insecurity in some points at the Turkish-Syrian borders, so we suggested that the solution is that the Syrian state establishes its control and full sovereignty over its entire territory to restore security”.

“There shouldn’t be any Turkish forces on any part of the Syrian land. We understand the concerns of some neighboring countries, but the solution lies in the return of these lands to the sovereignty of the Syrian state,” Raisi reiterated.

“We are playing a mediation role between Syria and Turkey. This role is important as Iran is a key player in the region and the world, and we are ready to exert more efforts to bring the view points of the two sides closer in order to solve the problems through dialogue and negotiations. We talked about this in Astana meeting on Syria and also in the meetings of the foreign ministers,” Raisi added.

On his impression about visiting Syria, Raisi said “I am so happy with this visit. I saw that Syria has a strong will against the enemies and difficulties. This spirit exists in every Syrian citizen who has endured massive hardships and sanctions”.

“I believe that the future will be different and the economic circumstances will improve in the country,” he concluded.

Hamda Mustafa