Publish Date: 30 August 2023 - 22:35

Tehran, IRNA – Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has described the presence of US forces in Syria as illegal, urging them to withdraw from the country while calling on American authorities to stop interfering in the West Asia region.

“We advise US forces to return home and we also advise American authorities to leave the region to the people of the region,” the top Iranian diplomat said on Wednesday during a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad in Damascus following their talks earlier in the day.

Amirabdollahian said that they had discussed the fight against terrorism as well as US measures to re-organize terrorist groups, stressing that the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue supporting Syria in its anti-terror fight until the situation there becomes stabilized and prosperous.

Zionist attacks on Syria

The frequent airstrikes by the Zionist regime on Syrian soil was another issue raised during the press briefing.

The Iranian foreign minister strongly condemned the Israeli airstrikes including the attack that hit Aleppo International Airport on Monday, stressing the need for responding to such strikes.

“None of the criminal acts by the Zionist regime will go unanswered,” Amirabdollahian said.

Western plots

Both ministers referred to attempts by the United States to shut down transit routes between regional countries, with Mekdad emphasizing that regional nations will not allow the US to advance its plans.

Mekdad said that the US and other Western states are going ahead with their aggressive policies against Iran and Syria, especially through “investing in terrorism”, adding that the Iranian and Syrian nations have remained resilient and this common stance will bring them victory against Western plots.

The Syrian foreign minister also said that Western countries do not like normalized ties between regional countries, in reference to his country’s return to the Arab League, and the restoration of diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Iran-Syria ties

The two top diplomats said they had also discussed relations between their countries and the recent agreements reached between the presidents of Iran and Syria, saying that measures are underway to implement those agreements.

Iran membership in BRICS

On August 24, BRICS nations invited Iran and five other countries including Saudi Arabia to join their group. Referring to that, the Syrian foreign minister said the expansion of BRICS means that the global economy is becoming multi-polar, calling it the only solution to the problems the world is facing.

Iran’s foreign minister arrived in the Syrian capital earlier on Wednesday.

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