Iran`s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi paid a visit Saturday to Damascus. He held separate meetings with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara.
Following the talks, Kharrazi has appreciated Syria’s initiative submitted to the UN Security Council which calls for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.
In a statement to the press, he called for practicing international pressures on Israel to oblige it to eliminate its nuclear arsenal. "The meeting with President al-Assad comes in the frame work of the continuous consultation between Syria and Iran regarding developments in the region," the Iranian FM said, adding "the meeting dealt with the situation in Iraq, in the occupied Palestinian territories and with the issue of freeing the region from WMD."
"Any development taking place in the region, affect the whole countries of the region," Kharrazi said.
Regarding Iraq, Kharrazi pointed out that "our duty is to extend aid to the Iraqi people to restore their sovereignty and to exercise their self-determination stressing the necessity for evacuation of the occupation troops from Iraq."
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
