“We are sharing good economic interests with Vietnam and the situation is alright to develop economic cooperation between the two countries,” said Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Iranian Parliament, said at Mehrabad Airport of Tehran prior to leaving for Vietnam on Sunday, referring to the visits made by his Vietnamese and Sri Lankan counterparts to Tehran in the past years.
During his visit to Vietnam and Sri Lanka, Mr. Larijani is accompanied by a politico-economic delegation.
“Iran and Vietnam are enjoying good parliamentary interactions and political cooperation at international venues,” highlighted the Iranian top lawmaker
“Naturally we will discuss economic growth in all areas during this visit; something that had already been discussed in a part in Tehran during the visit of Vietnamese parliament speaker to Tehran,” added the top MP of Iran.
“Also in this visit, we will exchange views with our Vietnamese friends on important regional and international developments underway,” said Mr. Larijani.
“We have also have had good ties with Sri Lanka from the past and during the last-year visit of Sri Lankan parliament speaker to Tehran we agreed to take measures to enhance trade ties between the two countries,” said the Iranian top parliamentarian after hailing the good relations between Iran and Sri Lanka.
“During this two-stop tour, we will discuss, with the officials of these two countries, ways to broaden economic and parliamentary relations, and the important regional and international developments,” asserted Mr. Larijani.
“One of important issues of international developments we are going to discuss with Vietnamese and Sri Lankan officials is what happened in Syria where to our utmost surprise the international system was ignored in this case,” he noted.
“It can have serious destructive consequences for conflicts and struggles in the future,” he said. “It is necessary we discuss this issue with the officials of these two countries to contribute to establishing security at the international venue,” he added.
Iranian MPs issued a statement on Sunday condemning a coordinated missile attack by US, UK and France on Syria in the early hours of Saturday over an alleged chemical attack in the Damascus suburb last week.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian Leader Ayatollah Khamenei condemned joint airstrikes by the US, the UK and France on Syria as “crime,” describing the leaders of the three Western states as “criminals.”
On the same day, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the US aggression in the region “will have no result but annihilation and destruction,” adding that the aggressors “seek to justify their presence in the region through these attacks.”
The aggressors are angry about the defeats of the terrorists they supported in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta region, he pointed out, stressing, however, that the Syrian people will keep up their resistance.
Earlier, Iran's foreign ministry strongly condemned the strikes as a violation of international law, warning against the repercussions of such an act of aggression against an independent country.
“The aggression is a flagrant violation of international law and a disregard of Syria’s right to national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement released on Saturday.
Syria came under attack one week after a suspected chemical weapons attack hit the Syrian town of Douma near Damascus.
Western countries blamed the incident on the Syrian government, but Damascus rejected the accusations as “chemical fabrications” made by the terrorists themselves in a bid to halt pro-government forces’ advances.
The fresh strikes by the US marked the second time that President Donald Trump has authorized attacks on Syria.
He had ordered a missile strike against Shayrat Airbase in Syria’s Homs Province on April 7, 2017. He claimed back then that the air field had been the origin of a suspected sarin gas attack on the town of Khan Shaykhun in Syria’s Idlib Province on April 4, 2017.
YNG/4271543