TEHRAN, November 23 /TASS/. Any decision on Syria should be made with consent of its people and rulers, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran on Monday.
"Any decision on Syria should be implemented with the consent of the Syrian people and rulers. The United States has no right to ignore the voice of the Syrian people," Khamenei’s press service quoted him as saying.
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He emphasized that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was a legitimately elected Syrian president and that Syria’s future president should be elected by the majority of Syrians at the general elections in which all the citizens would take part irrespective of various political views, ethnicity or religious apprehension.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described US support for and financial aid to terrorist groups in Syria as "dishonest diplomacy."
"Apart from the nuclear problem, we are not going to hold bilateral negotiations with the Americans on any issues, including the Syrian crisis," Khamenei stressed. He added the solution of the Syrian problem was very important for the situation in the whole region. If terrorists who are committing crimes in Syria are not eliminated, they will spread their deadly activities to Central Asia and other regions, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.
Iran highly assesses Russia’s role in regional questions resolution
Khamenei also pointed out that Iran highly assesses Russia’s role in resolving regional problems.
"During the meeting with Russia’s Putin, the Iranian supreme leader supported further expansion of bilateral, regional and international interaction between two countries," the Iranian presidential press service said. The supreme leader highly assessed Moscow’s role in the settling the regional problems, including the Syrian crisis, the statement said.
Ali Khamenei urged for closer Iranian-Russian relations in order to counteract the US policy. "The Americans have a long-term plot and are trying to dominate Syria and then the whole region," the president said. "This is a threat to all countries, especially Russia and Iran."
"The US are always striving to push out the competitors," Khamenei said. "Unwillingness to accept Russia’s growing influence in the region and in the international arena affects all the US decisions and actions concerning Syrian question."
According to the supreme leader, the US strives to dominate in the Syrian question in order to broaden their influence in the Western Asian region, which threatens the Russian and Iranian peoples.