A senior Iranian foreign ministry official strongly rejected rumors about Tehran's agreement with an overthrow or resignation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as "sheer lies".

Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Wednesday that Iran's stance on Syria is "clear and transparent", and stressed the recent claims that Iran has consented to the fall of the Syrian president are "untrue".

"Supporting the Syrian people and Bashar Assad's reforms has always been at the center of Iran's attention," Abdollahian underscored.

He pointed to the meeting of the so-called Contact Group on Syria in Cairo, and reminded that the group has agreed on "political solution to Syria, cessation of hostilities and stop of arms shipments to rebel groups, negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition groups, and democratic decision-making about the future of Syrian by the country's people and through election".

In similar remarks earlier this week, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi underlined the Iranian legislative body's full support for the Syrian government against the plots hatched by the enemies.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is serious about defending Syria's national sovereignty as (part of) an axis of resistance against the Zionist regime and will stay on the side of that nation," Boroujerdi said in a meeting with head of the Syrian parliament's Foreign Affairs Commission Fadiya Daib and head of the National Security Commission Mohammad Sobhi Abu al-Shamat here in Tehran.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

In October 2011, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of increasing unrests in Syria.
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News ID 182845