A top UN official is travelling to Tehran to discuss regional developments with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Foreign Ministry spokesman, Abbas Araqchi, said the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey D. Feltman is to discuss regional issues -- mainly Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and Palestine -- with Zarif on Monday.


“Syria and Egypt represent two highly significant and critical issues in the region,” Araqchi said.

Feltman, a former US diplomat, last came to Tehran in August 2012 when Iran hosted the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).


“In our view, Feltman is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and not a US diplomat,” Araqchi noted.

Syria is in the limelight after reports emerged on August 21 about the deaths of 1,300 people in a chemical attack on the outskirts of Damascus.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been killed and a total of 7.8 million others displaced since the outbreak of the violence.

Egypt, on the other hand, has plunged into an unrelenting string of violence since the July 3 military ouster of former president, Mohamed Morsi. Hundreds of protesters, mostly Morsi’s supporters, have been killed or wounded during the violence that has erupted since the removal of Morsi.

The massacre has sparked international condemnation and prompted world bodies to call for an independent investigation into the violence.

 

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