Iran ready to mediate in Syria crisis

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to hold a meeting with the Syrian opposition and invite them to Iran,” Salehi said on Sunday.

“We are prepared to provide grounds for and facilitate dialogue between the Syrian government and opposition,” the Iranian foreign minister added.

Stressing Iran’s support for the measures proposed by the joint UN-Arab League envoy, Salehi said, “So far Kofi Annan has treated the issue without bias and objectively and this has caused some regional countries to express concern which is unfortunate.”

“Despite that [concern], the facts are coming to the surface and, on the whole, there is great hope about [finding] a way out of the Syrian crisis,” he added.

In March, Annan presented a concrete proposal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during two rounds of talks in Damascus. His six-point plan was to begin with a ceasefire in mid-April between government forces and rebels seeking to topple the Syrian government.

Salehi expressed hope that positive steps would be taken towards resolving Syria’s crisis through cooperation among Iran, the UN and some regional countries.

The Iranian minister stated that the issue of Syria is of high sensitivity and any rash measure taken on Syria will spread chaos throughout the region.

“We believe that the crisis in Syria should be solved through a Syria-Syria solution and nothing should be imposed from outside and no government should be imposed [on Syrians] from outside,” he added.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. The violence has claimed the lives of many people, including security forces.

The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing protesters, but Damascus blames ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups’ for the unrest, saying that it is being orchestrated from abroad.

MYA/SS/HGH/AZ

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