Syria's President Bashar al-Assad affirmed in a joint press conference with his Iranian peer Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following their talks on Tuesday the joint Syrian-Iranian vision to the various Middle East issues. He said that the relation between Syria and Iran is a strategic and underlined by Tuesday's visit.
According to SANA, the Syrian leader said the two countries share the common interest to achieve a stable and independent region. Assad said "Syria's stance regarding the Iranian nuclear issue is firm, our stance is well known that every country in the world has the right to have nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and this right is guaranteed by relevant international conventions."
"As for talks about an hidden military program, then the parties that are advocating this must show us for the sake of credibility what they are doing about the military nuclear program that has existed for decades in Israel. Only then will this talk and these doubts have some credibility."
The Syrian president also said that the relation between Syria and Iran is natural and "not an axis as some may like to implicate," saying "this relationship is normal and isn’t only linked to Syrian-Iranian relations but to any relations between any group of neighboring countries; Syria's relation with all neighboring countries and Iran's relations with all neighboring countries."
"This type of relations is for the benefit of these countries, the benefit of stability and the benefit of the region's strength. So, it is our duty as countries to work to bolster this type of relations.
Assad stressed: ''When we talk about stability, we cannot ignore the Palestinian problem and the suffering of the Palestinians as a result of the Israeli terrorism, torture and killing, nor can we ignore the resistance and steadfastness of the Palestinian people."
''It is obvious that the dialogue today must center on the means to support all forms of the Palestinian peoples' resistance and steadfastness,'' Assad added.
Regarding the talks on Tuesday, Assad said: ''Our talks touched upon the way to support the Palestinian people's steadfastness by uniting it, because there cannot be steadfastness or resistance amid the divisions tearing apart the Palestinian political arena, and the talks also centered on the efforts to lift the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. These were the essential points in our talks.''
Regarding Iraq, the Syrian president said: "When we talk about stability, we cannot overlook the Iraqi issue. We are satisfied with the recent developments in Iraq, particularly the recent local administration elections that gave strong and clear indicators that the Iraqi people want the unity of Iraq and that Iraq isn't heading in the direction of division, fragmentation and collision among its people that some parties wanted and predicted."
"Our viewpoints are in agreement regarding the necessity of supporting the current Iraqi government in its incessant efforts to achieve reconciliation among the Iraqi people and parties in order to achieve the complete withdrawal of foreign forces and occupation troops from Iraq," Assad stated.
For his part, Ahmadinejad said that victory has come, affirming that the regional and global circumstances are quickly moving in favor of the stances of Iran and Syria. According to him, harmony and steadfastness are the secrets to victory. "There are greater victories ahead of us… we must prevent foreign interference in our region, which must remain independent, free, advanced and filled with peace and amity among peoples."
