A deputy foreign minister called on major regional actors to prevent Saudi Arabia from dispatching combat troops to Syria, warning that it could aggravate the long-raging war in the Arab country.
"Saudi Arabia, which is already stuck in Yemen, should not be allowed to [directly] intervene militarily in Syria," Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour told reporters in Ankara on Saturday.
Riyadh and some other Persian Gulf Arab states have voiced willingness to send troops to Syria as part of any US-led ground attack against the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group, which controls large swaths of Syria and Iraq.
Rahimpour said an efficient solution to the conflict entails more cooperation between regional states and lack of intervention by outside powers, ISNA reported.
"The current situation is not in the interest of either Iran or Turkey. To weather it, the main actors in the region should increase cooperation and not allow any outside interference."
Turkey is on the Saudis' side in backing insurgent armed groups in fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is allied with Iran and Russia, which has been conducting an air campaign against IS in Syria for months.
