TEHRAN – Secretary of Iran’s
Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad on Tuesday cautioned against a plot hatched by the U.S. and the Zionist regime to provoke security crisis in Syria.
In the meeting in Tehran, Shamkhani said the U.S. is extremely angry at the dissolution of the Daesh, terrorist group in Syria and Iraq, and at the resistance front’s victories that have boosted its strategic power.
That is why Washington seeks to foment new crises, he said.
The Iranian official warned of a U.S.-Zionist plot to create a security crisis in Syria and the dire consequences of the crisis that could harm the security of the entire region.
Shamkhani also condemned the Zionist regime’s acts of aggression on the Syrian soil as a continuation of the brutal Zionist crimes against Palestine and Lebanon.
“Resistance and coercive struggle are the only ways to remove the cancerous tumor of Zionism from the region,” he stated.
For his part, Mekdad expressed gratitude to Iran for supporting the Syrian people and government.
He said the defeat of terrorism and establishment of stability in Syria has opened a new chapter in cooperation with Iran.
Denouncing the Zionist regime’s repeated military attacks on Syria as a brazen example of state-sponsored terrorism and a provocative move, the foreign minister said, “Terrorism, military aggression and the cruel sanctions cannot undermine the Syrian nation’s determination to resist against the enemies’ bullying and excessive demands.”
“The U.S. seeks to revive terrorist cells to prevent sustainable stability in Syria,” Mekdad warned.
Last month, the Syrian foreign minister said the U.S. was supporting armed terrorist groups in northeastern Syria to put pressure on Damascus.
Syria has managed to achieve great things in the fight against terrorism, yet Washington wants to prevent Damascus from taking advantage of this great success, he said.
Mekdad had also said that an increasing number of Arab nations were willing to revive their diplomatic and political relations with Damascus, stressing that the West has failed to impose its will on Damascus through using terrorism, and direct military intervention.

Iran, Syria Should Further Broaden Economic Ties

Earlier on Monday, Iranian Parliament speaker Muhammad Baqer Qalibaf in a meeting with Faisal Mikdad called for the further development of economic and political relations and cooperation between the two countries.
At present, the most important issue for Tehran and Damascus is to boost mutual economic cooperation, Qalibaf said.
“It is evident that enemies of the resistance front are trying to gain through an economic war whatever they failed to obtain in the battlefield, and this is why we must try to be successful in economic and political fields,” he added.
Qalibaf emphasized that Damascus needs to promote intra-Syrian talks to tackle security issues, expressing Iran’s readiness to play a role in this regard through the Astana talks.
Mikdad, for his part, stressed that the Syrian government and nation consider
 Iranian parliament speaker’s visit to the war-ravaged country, which took place in late July, a sign of Iranians’ backing for the Syrian nation and parliament.
Elaborating on the efforts made by Damascus to put an end to occupation of certain regions in the northwestern part of the country, Syria’s top diplomat added, “U.S. occupationism in northeastern and southern parts of Syria is also dangerous and must end.”
“They are trying to impose their dominion and colonialism on our countries through soft war and with the help of their various tools in the region, including nongovernmental organizations that are affiliated to them, economic instruments and paying off certain people,” Mikdad said.
He emphasized that the U.S. was forced to leave certain parts of the region after their failure to advance its goals through terrorism, direct interference in regional countries and establishing military bases, and it is now resorting to other means to achieve its goals.
The Syrian foreign minister said the U.S. has imposed inhumane sanctions on Iran, Syria and other countries in order to bring them to their knees, adding that Washington seeks to obtain whatever it has failed to achieve through military approaches via such bans.