Mr. Ali Akbar Velayati who was speaking to the press, said that Mr. Alexander Lavrentiev, Russia’s special envoy on Syria was in Tehran to convey a very important message to the country’s officials. Before the press conference, Mr. Velayati and Lavrentiev discussed bilateral ties and prospects of boosting relations to new highs as Leader’s adviser believed was necessary.
“New conditions in the region are enough reasons for Russia and Iran to extend ties permanently; many countries tried to muddy bilateral ties but failed to effectively stymie Tehran-Moscow cordiality," Mr. Velayati told the press.
Mr. Lavrentiev shared Velayati’s view that specific countries worked to negatively affect bilateral ties unavailingly. Velayati also added that Russian envoy had a very confidential message to President Rouhani. “This is for the 4th time we meet and we discussed prospects of improvements in bilateral relations,” he said, before turning to regional developments especially in Syria; “the US allies and proxies seek to topple Assad and disintegrate Syria which would best serve the Zionist regime; they assumed it was possible in a course of weeks, but hit a hard cemented wall, the Syrian public, along with Islamic Republic of Iran’s and Hezbollah’s supports,” he told the press.
“Today, we see hope-inspiring advance on the ground in Syria by Syrian forces and according to Mr. Lavrentiev’s report, government forces are advancing from the west of Aleppo. This is a great achievement in pinning terrorists into the city quarters,” said the Leader’s adviser and head of Strategic Research Center of the Expediency Council.
“Both Iran and Russia agreed to continue support for Assad’s legitimate government and Syrian territorial integrity; terrorists should not be allowed to go on their atrocities and savagery against civilians,” he told the press.
Velayati also touched upon the issue of the US Congressional renewal of Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) which expires December 31, 2016 for another ten years; “the measure well indicates frustration and anger which embraces the US and its allies in the face of Iran’s and its allies’ success in the region; the act, if signed into law by Obama, will be flagrant violation of the JCPOA; five powers had agreed to avoid measures which would undermine the spirit of the JCPOA; the allegations that Iran's support for Hezbollah is seen as support for a terrorist organization and thus should be punished by sanctions are ludicrous, since Hezbollah is a popular force working to secure Lebanese borders and sovereignty against encroachments by Israel; we see the group legitimate and defender of a nation’s ideals of peace,” he emphasized.
SH/3839352/3839524