“Resistance is the distinguished identity of Syria”, the leader said on Thursday during a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, adding “this distinguished identity has given Syria a special position in the region, and this important feature should be preserved.”
Assad and his accompanying delegation visited Tehran to pay respect to the late president Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage martyred in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran on May 19.
Ayatollah Khamenei thanked Assad for his visit to Tehran, and said that the late president Raisi played a key role in strengthening ties between Iran and Syria, while foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian put a special focus on the ties as well.
Acting President Mohammad Mokhber is also adopting the same stance regarding ties with Syria, the leader added.
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the strengthening of relations between Iran and Syria is important, because the two countries are among the pillars of the resistance front.
Further in his remarks, the leader said that Western states and their followers in the region intended to overthrow the political system of Syria and eliminate it from regional equations through the war they instigated against the Arab nation, but they failed.
He added that Western countries are now intending to exclude Syria from the regional equations through other means including promises that they will never fulfill.
As to the political and economic pressures imposed by the West on Iran and Syria, Ayatollah Khamenei stated that both countries should expand their bilateral cooperation to overcome the conditions they are facing.
He also criticized certain regional countries for their stance on the issue of Gaza during the recent summit of the Arab heads of states in Manama, Bahrain.
President Al-Assad, for his part, referred to the issue of resistance in the region, saying that the resistance front has been growing over the past 50 years, and has now turned into a political and ideological approach.
The Syrian president reiterated his stance that the cost of resistance is lower than compromise, which the Supreme Leader admitted.
Assad once again extended his condolences over the martyrdom of president Raisi and hailed him for promoting Tehran-Damascus relations as well as making the Islamic Republic of Iran play a greater role in regional issues including Palestine.
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