TEHRAN (Iran News) – President Ebrahim Raisi says Syria has managed to overcome difficulties and emerge victorious in spite of all the threats and sanctions targeting the Arab country.
“The Syrian government and nation have moved past major difficulties and problems. Today we can say that you … were able to win [the war] despite the threats and sanctions that were imposed against you,” Raisi said at a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Wednesday.
Syria has been a target of United States sanctions since 1979. The US and its Western allies imposed more such bans on Damascus after 2011, when the country found itself in the grip of rampant foreign-backed militancy and terrorism.
The sanctions intensified even further with Washington’s passing of the Caesar Act in 2019, which targeted any individual and business that participated either directly or indirectly in Syria’s reconstruction efforts.
President Raisi also hailed Iran-Syria relations as “rich, fruitful, and full of experiences,” adding that the ties remained stable even in difficult periods amid severe political and security turbulence in the Middle East.
He further said that regional and trans-regional changes have failed to affect brotherly relations between Tehran and Damascus.
“The Iran-Syria ties are tied to the blood of our beloved martyrs, especially General Qassem Soleimani, and this is a key to the stability and strength of the relations between the two countries,” Raisi noted.
“Today, the legitimacy of the position of Iran and Syria … has been fully proven. Those who had doubts about Iran’s political position are convinced that it was the right and fair stance.”
Emphasizing Iran’s support and assistance for Syria in achieving lasting peace, stability and tranquility, Raisi noted, “Just as the Islamic Republic stood by the Syrian government and nation in the fight against terrorism, it will stand by its Syrian brothers in development and progress period.”
Raisi also stressed that the Islamic Republic will stand by its Syrian brothers in the post-war era of reconstruction and development as it was the case during the fight against terrorism.
The Syrian president, for his part, hailed Iran’s support for Syria throughout the Arab country’s conflict, and said the Syrian nation won’t forget Iran’s assistance to them in their hard times.
“Syria-Iran relations are rich and full of experience, as this relationship has been stable even during tough times when there were heavy political and security storms in the Middle East,” he said.
President Assad called for Iran to play a bigger role in establishing sustainable peace in the country and reconstructing war-torn parts of Syria.
Assad said “the Syrian-Iranian relations are rich in content, rich in experiences and rich in the insights that constituted them, and therefore, these relations were, during hard times, stable and firm despite of the severe political and security storms which struck the Middle East Region.”
Referring to the signing of cooperation documents between the two countries, the two presidents emphasized the importance of the “comprehensive long-term strategic cooperation program between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Syrian Arab Republic” in order to secure the interests of the two nations and other nations in the region.
The two presidents also stressed the importance of Iran-Syria’s long-term cooperation plan for advancing the interests of the two nations and other countries in the region.
Talks also dealt with the latest developments in the Middle East region and the reflections of the global changes on the region, and unifying efforts to invest these changes for the benefit of the two countries and the people of the region.
Earlier before his departure to Syria, President Raisi said that the Tel Aviv regime will be destroyed in case it takes the first action against Iran.
President Raisi made the comments in an interview with the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to resistance groups in the Middle East.
The Zionist regime is angry with Tehran-Riyadh relations, the president of Iran said, describing Iran and Saudi Arabia as two influential countries in the region.
The Zionists are not able to preserve their own security, according to Raisi, adding that while the Israeli regime gets weaker and weaker, the resistance groups are growing stronger and stronger.
He went on to say that “Any Israeli action against Iran would mean the destruction of that regime.”
Elsewhere, the president stressed that Americans must leave Syria immediately, “Syria should exercise its sovereignty over all its lands….We are ready to cooperate with the people and government of Syria in reconstructing their country.”
He noted that the Americans are not in Syria to fight terrorism, saying “We must reveal the lies of the American fight against terrorism and let the whole world know that they are instead handling terrorism.”
