Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who arrived in Tehran on Tuesday at the head of a delegation, met his Iranian counterpart to discuss bilateral ties and the latest political developments regarding the Syrian crisis.
Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif congratulated the Syrian nation for their victory over terrorists and called for increasing collaboration between Damascus and other regional countries, ISNA reported.
Pointing to a recent visit by Iran’s First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri to the Arab country, he expressed the readiness of Iranian firms to engage in Syria’s restoration projects.
Muallem appreciated Iran’s support for his country against the terrorists, attributing the victory to Syria, Iran and other allies collectively.
He also presented a report on latest consultations for a solution to the political crisis.
The upcoming Russia-Turkey-Iran summit on Syrian peace, which is due to be held in the Russian city of Sochi on Feb. 14, was also discussed by the two officials.
The top Syrian diplomat met Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, later the same day.
Geir Pedersen, the United Nations’ special envoy for Syria, who was also in Tehran, held separate meetings with Zarif and his senior assistant for special political affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, to discuss ways of addressing Syrian political issues.
In addition to the Sochi summit, the next Syria peace talks in the Astana format are set to take place in mid-February in the Kazakh capital.
The 12th Astana talks will be attended by the representatives of the three guarantor states of the peace process, namely Russia, Iran and Turkey, as well as observers from Jordan and the UN.
A multisided civil war, which raged in Syria for years, has now nearly come to an end with a major victory of government forces over insurgents.
The peace talks aim to find a political solution to restore lasting peace and stability to the war-wrecked country.
