Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks in a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary Zsolt Semjén on Saturday in Tehran. Zarif was referring to the tragic incident in which a number of Syrian people were killed due to the use of chemical weapons and the subsequent US strike on Syria which was in flagrant violation of international law and a ‘dangerous trendsetter’.
“Syria had been already disarmed by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, but the OPCW did not disarm the terrorists,” Zarif said. “Syrians had never had sarin gas but the terrorists did. On the other hand, the Syrian government was not in need of using chemical weapons as it had the upper hand against the opposition.”
He went on to add, “but the US attack, beside violating international norms, was carried out without previous investigation. This will later be exploited by terrorists so that every time they were pushed back, they would make such moves and drag foreign intervention into the conflict.”
Elsewhere, Zarif noted the relations between Iran and Hungary, saying the two countries have good cooperation in the fields of energy, transport, education, tourism and public relations. He also called for further expansion of ties with Hungary and the European Union.
Zsolt Semjén, for his part, stressed the good status of economic and banking ties between the two countries, adding that Hungarian banks welcome joint investment with Iran in the fields of energy and transportation.
He further highlighted the need to fight terrorism and extremism based on previous experiences, adding that the Syrian crisis has no other solution but a political one.
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