Iran speaks out on Syria

Iran warns of regional chaos in post-Assad era

Iran's foreign minister warned on Tuesday of unforeseeable consequences if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was toppled and said only a political settlement to Syria's civil war would avoid a regional conflagration.

Reuters,

7 May, 2013

Shi'ite Muslim Iran is Assad's closest ally and has provided money, weapons, intelligence and training for his forces against a mainly Sunni Muslim uprising in which more than 70,000 people have been killed in two years, by a U.N. estimate.

"God forbid, if there is any vacuum in Syria, these negative consequences will affect all countries ... No one knows what will happen," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters during a rare visit to Jordan.

Flanked by Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Joudeh, Salehi said it was no secret Iran supported Damascus but accused Syria's neighbors of allowing arms to flow to Sunni Muslim rebels led by militant groups aligned with al Qaeda.

Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, said last month that thousands of opposition fighters had crossed from Jordan to join the conflict in southern Syria, where rebels have gained ground since February.

Joudeh did not address that point but said Jordanian security forces had detained many who had tried to cross the other way with the intention of destabilizing the kingdom.

"The army and the security forces have arrested many of those who tried to infiltrate inside Jordan with harmful intentions. We are protecting our security and do not train terrorists," he said.

Syrian rebels say U.S. army and intelligence officers have been training some of their fighters inside Jordan, and allowing limited flows of small arms into Syria.

The U.S.-allied Jordanian monarchy is under increasing pressure from its Gulf Arab financial supporters to step up arm shipments to moderate rebel groups fighting Assad.

Washington said in April it would send an army headquarters unit - which could theoretically command combat troops - to Jordan. Amman has also beefed up its military capabilities on the border and requested U.S. Patriot batteries to protect it from any retaliatory missile attack from Assad's forces.

But Joudeh denied there was any major international military build-up in his country. "There are no foreign troops across Jordanian territory. There are training programs with friendly countries and this is continuing," he said.

Salehi said only Syrians, and not foreign intervention, could decide their future and called on the opposition to "sit down with the government and set up a transitional government".

Israel staged two waves of air strikes in Syria over the weekend, targeting what it said were Iranian missiles intended for Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah militants, who back Assad against the rebels and fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006.

Hezbollah said on Tuesday Israel's bombings aimed to raise the spirits of Sunni Islamist rebels in Syria and described the attacks as part of an international plot to overthrow Assad.

'Iran is against any foreign intervention in Syria'

Iran will not allow Israel to weaken resistance axis: official

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says the Islamic Republic will not allow the enemies and the Israeli regime to weaken the resistance axis

Press TV,

6 May 2013

In a meeting with Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Rogelio Sierra Diaz in Tehran on Monday, Amir- Abdollahian denounced the recent Israeli aggression against a research center in Syria and called on the international community to take firm action against it.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is holding consultation and talks with regional and international sides in this regard to hold a broad meeting in Tehran in support of the Syrian people in the presence of regional and international countries and players, including Cuba,” the Iranian official stated.

On Sunday, Syria said the Israeli regime had carried out an act of aggression against a research center in a suburb of Damascus, following heavy losses of al-Qaeda-affiliated groups at the hands of the Syrian army.

According to Syrian media reports, Israeli rockets struck the Jamraya research center.

Amir-Abdollahian stressed the importance of holding consultation between Tehran and Havana about the “rapid and influential” developments in the Middle East and urged Cuba to play an active role given its revolutionary background and its anti-Zionism and anti-arrogance approaches.

He said the US and the Israeli regime seek to resolve their strategic woes by making efforts to inflict damage on Syria and the resistance axis and added that they even seek to spill over insecurity to Iraq.

However, such efforts would be foiled through the vigilance of the Iraqi government and nation, the Iranian official emphasized.

The Cuban deputy foreign minister, for his part, said that his country would make efforts to play an active and constructive role in the Middle East developments and to support regional nations and the resistance axis.

Sierra Diaz warned of a main plot against Syria and said certain countries are resorting to different means to damage and destroy the Arab state.

He expressed Cuba’s opposition to foreign interference in Syria and said Havana supports Iran’s political plan to end the violence in Syria and hold national dialogue in the crisis-hit country.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of government security forces and army personnel, have been killed in the violence.