Iran submitted last month a peace plan to Syrian President Bashar Assad to try and end his country’s four-year war, a senior Iranian official says.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian however tells a news conference in Damascus that any initiative to end the conflict would have to recognize “the pivotal role of Assad.”
The peace plan was submitted to Assad by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during a visit to Damascus on August 12, he says.
Hussein Amir-Abdollahian (L), Iran’s deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs and Syrian deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Moqdad (R) sit under a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a joint press conference in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on September 3, 2015. (AFP/LOUAI BESHARA)
Assad “welcomed it as a constructive political initiative from Iran, and the two sides agree to follow up on these preliminary ideas via the two foreign ministers,” Amir-Abdollahian says.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Moqdad, he says Iran was optimistic about the “success” of the peace plan.
Amir-Abdollahian, whose country is a key ally of Assad’s embattled regime, gave no further details.
— AFP
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