“Damascus and Tehran believe that Russia’s proposal must put an end to hostilities against the Syrian people and to measures [which are taken] to support of terrorist and Takfiri groups in the country,” Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in Moscow on Tuesday following a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem.
“Damascus and Tehran believe that although Moscow’s initiative provides all sides with an appropriate political opportunity to resolve the Syrian issue peacefully, the entire region must become free of [all kinds of] weapons of mass destruction,” Amir-Abdollahian added.
He stressed the importance of paying heed to any measure which would avert war on the Syrian people.
During their meeting, Amir-Abdollahian and the Syrian official exchanged views on Russia’s proposal to Syria.
The proposal, which has been “welcomed” by Damascus, was made during a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Syrian counterpart Muallem in Moscow on Monday in an attempt to prevent the US aggression against Syria.
Amir-Abdollahian noted that the Israeli regime possesses hundreds of nuclear warheads.
The Israeli regime is widely believed to be the only possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. The regime reportedly maintains between 200 and 400 atomic warheads, but under its policy of so-called nuclear ambiguity, it has never denied nor confirmed its possession of the weapons of mass destruction.
Furthermore, Tel Aviv has never allowed any inspection of its nuclear facilities and continues to defy international calls to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The Russian initiative came shortly after US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in London that the only way for Syria to avert US military action is to hand over its entire stockpile of chemical weapons within a week.
The US has based its recent threat of striking Syria on the unsubstantiated accusation that the Syrian government was behind a chemical attack in Damascus on August 21. The Syrian government has categorically rejected the allegation.