Chairman of Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Friday's resolution of the United Nations Security Council on Syria would be useful, if it is implemented.
Rafsanjani made the statement in a meeting of the Expediency Council on Saturday, IRNA reported.
Pointing to the change in West's approach toward the Syrian conflict, Rafsanjani said terrorist and violent groups should not be allowed to intensify chaos in the region.
The United Nations Security Council on Friday unanimously approved a resolution endorsing an international roadmap for a Syria peace process.
The resolution supports a plan negotiated previously in Vienna that calls for a ceasefire, talks between the Syrian government and opposition, and a roughly two-year timeline to create a unity government and hold elections.
Rafsanjani said militant groups like the self-styled Islamic State will have no role in peace negotiations and efforts to reach a political solution.
He also touched upon the Nigerian Army's bloody crackdown on the Shia Muslim community in the African country.
Rafsanjani denounced the recent raid on the house of the prominent Nigerian Shia cleric, Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, and the killing of a large number of Shias in Zaria, Kaduna State.
Describing Zakzaky as an "educated and peaceful" figure, the chairman said while the Nigerian Army is unable to deal with the Boko Haram extremist group, the attack on Shia community and arrest of Zakzaki are a source of regret.
Rafsanjani hoped that the Nigerian government will fulfil its commitments to provide domestic security and observe the rights of citizens. The Britain-based Islamic Human Rights Commission said on Wednesday that the Nigerian military secretly buried hundreds of bodies in mass graves.
IHRC Chairman Massoud Shadjareh has also confirmed that more than 1,000 people were systematically killed in the Nigerian Army’s brutal raid on Shia Muslims.
