TEHRAN –Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that the Islamic Republic of Iran will spare no effort to put an end to the conflict in Syria and to restore peace and security in the country.
The remarks were made during Rouhani’s meeting with UN Syria Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
According to the Iranian “Tasnim” News Agency, Rouhani also proposed that Iran is willing to host a meeting of Syria’s neighboring countries in order to help bring their views on the crisis closer and has informed some regional countries, including Turkey about the matter.
Almost all the stakeholders in the crisis are united in their opposition to the presence of terrorist groups from the region and beyond in Syria, the death of defenseless people in clashes, the massive destruction wreaked on the country by the prolonged war and the displacement of millions of people, said President Rouhani.
“The second issue they concur on is that the future of Syria must be decided according to the votes and views of the Syrian people in a free election contested by all sides; but how to reach from the current situation to the desired point remains the main sticking point,” added Rouhani.
Brahimi, who has traveled to various countries ahead of the planned Geneva 2 conference, said the gathering aims to lay the ground for the warring sides in Syria to sit at the negotiating table to find ways to end the fighting.
“I have always strongly supported the presence of Iran at Geneva II conference, and believe that either way, whether Iran attends the gathering or not, we will maintain close cooperation with Iran during the gathering and afterwards to secure peace in Syria,” he said.
During a meeting between President Rouhani and Brahimi on the sidelines of the 68th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in late September, the Iranian president Rouhani once again underlined Tehran’s readiness to take part in the planned Geneva II conference on the Syrian crisis without any preconditions.
H. Mustafa