Iranian president in Damascus to consolidate alliance
The presidents of Iran and Syria today consulted on ways to consolidate an old alliance made increasingly crucial as their countries face mounting US pressure and the threat of international sanctions.
Iran’s stand-off with the West over its nuclear programme and the threat to refer it to the UN Security Council as well as Syria’s own troubles over a UN investigation that implicated it in the assassination of a Lebanese politician were expected to figure high in the talks.
Bilateral economic, industrial and cultural agreements also will be discussed during the two-day visit.
Syria is Iran’s closest Arab ally. The two countries have had close relations since 1980 when Arab Syria sided with Persian Iran against Iraq, a fellow Arab nation, in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq border war.
The two countries also have growing economic ties in sectors such as power generation, vehicles, cement and agriculture.
On the eve of the visit, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described bilateral relations as “strong and good”.
Both countries share to a certain extent similar foreign policy objectives: opposition to what they describe as US attempts to dominate the Middle East, hostility toward Israel and support for Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups fighting the Jewish state.
Syrian President Bashar Assad visited Iran in August, becoming the first foreign head of state to go to Tehran since Ahmadinejad’s inauguration, earlier that month.
Ahmadinejad’s trip to Damascus comes at a very delicate time for both nations and recent events made strengthening ties all the more necessary.
Iran’s insistence on proceeding with its peaceful nuclear activities has raised great concern in the European Union and the United States, which have been pushing for a referral of the issue to the UN Security Council, a first step toward possible sanctions.
Syria faces international accusations of failing to fully cooperate with the UN investigation into last year’s assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. The probe has implicated Syrian officials and now wants to interview Assad and his foreign minister. Damascus has denied any role in the Beirut bombing.
Syria sits on the 35-nation Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which meets on February 2 for a vote to refer Tehran to the Security Council. Its support of Tehran is sure to bolster the ranks of countries opposed to the decision to refer Iran to the Security Council over its nuclear activities.
Ahmadinejad yesterday accused the West of acting like the “lord of the world” in denying his country peaceful use of nuclear energy. But the United States and other countries are suspicious that Iran was planning on develop nuclear arms.
Syria’s official media today played up the need for closer cooperation in facing the common US foe.
Tishrin government newspaper said Ahmadinejad’s visit acquired a special importance “due to the special circumstances which the region is passing through, as both Syria and Iran were subject to foreign pressures that aim at encroaching upon their sovereignty and influence their national choices".
