“We ... believe that arming the extremist and Takfiri groups, and specially the access by these groups to chemical weapons, is the biggest threat to peace and security in the region,” Rouhani said in his speech at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on Friday.
He said the necessity to stop the flow of arms to the militants in Syria has to be considered in any proposed plan aimed to end the crisis in the Arab country.
The Iranian head of state also called for a political solution to end “the humanitarian disaster” in Syria without any foreign intervention.
“Furthermore, all efforts to reach a political solution must condemn and reject any threat and resort to force,” he added.
Rouhani further voiced Iran’s opposition to the production, possession and use of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), and welcomed Russia’s proposal to Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control as a good start for the realization of the final goal of clearing the entire region of all WMDs.
After more than two years of foreign-sponsored militancy, the crisis in Syria saw a new turn in August after the Syrian opposition accused the government of President Bashar al-Assad of launching a chemical attack on militant strongholds on the suburbs of Damascus, provoking an escalation of US war threats against Syria.
On Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said his country “welcomes” a Russian proposal to put its chemical weapons under international control.
Following the new twist in events, Obama suggested that the planned US strikes on Syria could be averted if the Syrian “gesture” is “real.”
The US president -- who, having faced little support for his war plans, had sought authorization from an already skeptical Congress -- asked for a delay of a congressional vote on military intervention in Syria.