Iran FM Hails Russia’s Decision to Withdraw Forces from Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that "the main part" of Russian armed forces in Syria would start to withdraw, telling his diplomats to step up the push for peace as UN-mediated talks resumed on ending the five-year-old war.

Speaking in Canberra after a meeting with his Australian counterpart Julie Bishop, Zarif said “the fact that Russia announced that it’s withdrawing part of its forces indicates that they don’t see an imminent need for resort to force in maintaining the ceasefire.

“That in and of itself should be a positive sign. Now we have to wait and see.”

Iran’s top diplomat further underlined Iran’s stance on the need for a ceasefire and a political solution in Syria.

“The fact that a semi-ceasefire has been holding in Syria is welcome news, it’s something that we’ve been asking for at least two-and-a-half, three years,” he said.

The Iranian foreign minister said while the ceasefire did not include Daesh (ISIL) and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated extremist group Al-Nusra Front or their collaborators, the international community was united against them.

“The message that the international community has been sending to Daesh, and should be sending to Daesh and other extremist organizations, is that our fight against them is relentless,” Zarif said.

“We will not stop and I believe the entire international community is united in that.”

Zarif said he did not think anybody should consider Daesh or other extremist organizations as a leverage “even for temporary political gains”.

“And I hope that message can be driven home everywhere in the region, particularly as we see more and more instances of carnage in terrorism in our region carried out by Daesh,” he said.

Zarif also highlighted the common views of Iran and Australia on the fight against terrorism in Syria and Yemen, urging that Tehran and Canberra should work together in the campaign against Daesh.