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Tehran says no disagreement between Iran, Russia in assessing Astana meeting

"Our cooperation with Russia has been perfect," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said

TEHRAN, February 20. /TASS/. There are no differences between Tehran and Moscow in assessing the recent Astana meeting on Syria, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said at a briefing on Monday.

"Our cooperation with Russia has been perfect. There are no differences between us in assessing the recent Astana meeting. There are some differences among the Syrian opposition groups, this is why their representatives were late for the meeting as well as the Turkish delegation which comprised lower level representatives," the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said.

"Despite some negative comments concerning the recent Astana meeting and assertions about the meeting being a failure, we consider it to be a success. Our evaluation is positive although we believe some proposals put forward by the Turkish delegation, particularly the proposal to set up no-fly safety zones, to be wrong," Ghasemi added.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani earlier summed up the results of the Astana meeting on Syria held on February 16 in an interview with the Al Mayadeen TV channel. According to him, the talks should facilitate the process of settling the Syrian conflict and bring the parties closer together.

Larijani rejected the rumors saying that Tehran and Moscow had different views on solving the Syrian crisis. He said that on the contrary, "Iran and Russia have reached a serious political agreement concerning the future of Syria." Besides, both countries have been closely cooperating in fighting terror groups active in Syria and have been advancing bilateral strategic partnership, the Iranian parliament speaker said.