Mr. Ali Akbar Velayati met with President Putin’s special envoy in Syrian affairs Alexander Lavrentiev on Sunday. Velayati told reporters after the meeting that the sheer pace of the developments on the ground in Syria necessitated more coordination of Iran with Russia, as two powers seriously backing Assad government in the country; “defeat of Takfirists in Aleppo is critical; however, this would seem insufficient in a broader vista with Takfiris overtaking rapidly other key cities of Palmyra, Riqqa and Deir-ez-Zur; steps should be taken to tackle their advance in these cities as well,” he suggested.
“Moscow-Tehran exchanges of diplomats are necessary to bring more coordination in security and political terms, and a trilateral meeting of Russian, Turkish, and Iranian foreign ministers would seek the same objectives.”
“Iran and Russia should be on alert, since the victories managed in Syria would easily be aborted in other fronts by the countries with interests in Syria, including the UN,’ Velayati emphasized, criticizing the US envoy to the UN who Velayati believed had been shedding a crocodile tears for terrorists, while “they [terrorists] had been cut-throat hoodlums during the last 3 or 4 years.”
“With outgoing terrorists from Aleppo, access to two major cities al-Fuah and Kefraya becomes possible to provide them with some air to breathe in terms of opportunities to decide; while extremists leave the city, it is not acceptable that these cities still remain under siege,” he told the press.
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