Development of Iran-Syria Economic Ties Highly Significant: Qalibaf
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf described promotion of economic cooperation with Syria as a matter of utmost importance, saying the enemies of the resistance front seek to make up for their military defeats through an economic war.
In a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, held in Tehran on Monday, Qalibaf said the most important issue for Tehran and Damascus at the present time is to boost bilateral economic cooperation.
“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 stated.
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, Press TV reported.
For his part, the Syrian foreign minister said the occupation of northeastern and southern parts of his country by US forces is dangerous and must come to an 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,” the Syrian foreign minister said.
He emphasized that the US 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.
Mekdad said the US 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.