TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s Foreign Minister’s Senior Assistant for Special Political Affairs Ali Asghar Khaji in a phone call with his Japanese counterpart on Wednesday slammed the United States illegal presence in Syria stressing that US must leave the Arab country.
Speaking to Japan’s Special Coordinator for Syria Akira Endo, the Iranian diplomat further condemned the US efforts to plunder Syrian oil reserves and support terrorist groups in that country, Mehr News Agency (MNA) reported.
He also stressed the need to fight against terrorism in the Syrian territory.
Media reports said in August that a US company has reportedly reached a deal with Kurdish-led authorities in northeast Syria to develop and export crude oil in areas under their control in the war-torn country.
A senior official at the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration in Northeast Syria said the deal was approved by the U.S. government.
Khaji and his Japanese counterpart also discussed latest developments in Syria, including the meeting of the Constitutional Committee, the Astana Peace Process, the situation in Idlib and east of the Euphrates, as well as the humanitarian situation in that country.
Referring to Iran’s position on the political settlement of the Syrian crisis, Khaji urged foreign countries not to interfere in the process of Syrian-Syrian dialogue which is within the framework of the Constitutional Committee.
Iran, Russia, and Turkey have been leading a peace process for Syria known as the Astana process, because Kazakhstan’s capital, Nur-Sultan, formerly called Astana, originally hosted the meetings.
The Astana talks resulted in two agreements.
A first deal was signed in Kazakhstan’s capital, arranging for the creation of de-escalation zones across Syria, including in parts of Idlib. The second one that came about in the Russian resort city of Sochi allowed Ankara to bring in a small number of forces to man the observation posts to reinforce de-escalation.
More in his talks with the Japanese diplomat, Khaji welcomed expansion of Tehran-Tokyo relations in the region and called for the continuation of Japanese humanitarian aid to Syria.
Akira Endo, for his part, emphasized the significance of Iran’s role in resolving the Syrian crisis and praised the efforts of the guarantors of the Astana Peace Process.
- source : Iran Daily
