TEHRAN -- Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said here Monday the continued presence of foreign forces in Syria and elsewhere in West Asia is detrimental to security and stability of the entire region.
Raisi met Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad to discuss regional and international developments as well as ways for all-out expansion of relations between Tehran and Damascus.
The president said Daesh was created by the U.S., adding the presence of both entities in any place is a great threat to security, stability and welfare of the regional nations.
He also hailed Syria, saying the Arab country is at the forefront of resistance against the occupying regime of Israel.
“History will proudly record the commendable resistance of the Syrian people and government in the face of cowardly acts of aggression,” he said.
Raisi stressed the need to respect Syria’s territorial integrity, saying any disregard of the country’s sovereignty will not be tolerated.
The Iranian president also said trade and economic exchanges between the two countries are much lower than expected.
He said there is a great potential to increase the volume of economic exchanges between the two countries by activating all existing capacities.
Mekdad delivered a message from Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and invited President Raeisi to visit the country.
Syria, he said, is determined to activate all cooperation capacities for further strengthening of bilateral relations in line with the shared interests of the two nations.
He said the Syrian people will never forget Iran’s support and assistance in their fight against a foreign-backed sedition.
He said, “The United States uses the most vicious methods in its relations with some countries in the
 region, and seeks to make the Zionists masters of the region through totally disrespecting and humiliating” regional nations.
“The plots hatched by the United States, the Zionist regime and their stooges have failed in the region due to steadfastness of the Syrian people and the resistance front, and now they have reached the conclusion that Syria was not defeated and has, therefore, changed their approach,” Mekdad noted.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since 2011.
The U.S. military has stationed forces and equipment in eastern and northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.
Damascus, however, says the unlawful deployment is meant to plunder the country’s resources.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in Syria for its oil.
After failing to oust the Syrian government through proxies and direct involvement in the conflict, the U.S. government has now stepped up its economic war on the Arab country.
Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said Iran condemns the presence of foreign forces in Syria without the permission of the Arab country.
He touched on the “strategic and outstanding” nature of relations between Tehran and Damascus, saying Iranian martyrs who fought alongside Syrian forces played an important role in fighting terrorism and restoring security to the region.
The Iranian foreign minister also hailed a decision by some Western and Arab countries to revise their foreign policy toward Syria and open their embassies in Damascus.
Referring to Iran’s participation in Syria’s reconstruction projects, he said the Islamic Republic has carried out comprehensive engineering plans in various fields to reconstruct the war-ravaged country.
Amir-Abdollahian condemned Israeli attacks in Syria, saying “the fake and terrorist Israeli regime is the root cause of insecurity in the West Asia region”.
“We have no doubt that Syria has not and will not spare any effort to defend its national security and territorial integrity.”