UNITED NATIONS, January 15. /ITAR-TASS/. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday discussed Syrian settlement issues with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian. The UN head’s office reported that the meeting was held in Al Kuwait where the second international conference of donor countries for Syria is opening on Wednesday.

“They discussed the Syrian crisis and their shared commitment to alleviating the humanitarian situation and delivering assistance. They also discussed Iranian ideas concerning regional political initiatives that could accompany both the Geneva international conference and the negotiations between the Syrian opposition and the Syrian Government,” a UN release said. “They shared the conviction that there is no military solution to the crisis but only a political solution through dialogue,” it says.

In recent months, the UN head has repeatedly expressed confidence that Iran’s participation in the Geneva II international conference would contribute to the Syrian conflict settlement.

The UN press service said that at the meeting with the UN deputy foreign minister the UN Secretary-General also welcomed the start on 20 January of the agreement on Iran's nuclear program — the joint action plan to cut the Iranian nuclear program, an agreement on which was reached between Tehran and the six international mediators (five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, P5+1).