Iran’s Deputy FM: We’re Closely Working with Syria to De-Escalate Situation in Ghouta
Local Editor
Iran is working closely with Syria in order to bring calm back to parts of the Arab country that have witnessed renewed violence as a result of increased terrorist activities over the past days, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.
After losing most of the Syrian territories in their control, militants are now largely concentrated in Eastern Ghouta, an area they have been using to launch mortar attacks on the Syrian capital Damascus.
Meanwhile, the Syrian army units have been pounding terrorist positions in the area to retake it and free a large number of civilians trapped there and struggling with malnutrition and lack of basic medical supplies.
Araqchi, currently on a trip to the UK, told Press TV's London bureau on Thursday that Tehran and Damascus were exploring possible ways to end the deadly clashes.
"We are trying to see how we can de-escalate this new tension and how we can assist people on the ground who are suffering from this conflict," said the Iranian diplomat.
Earlier this month, the United Nations was able to send an aid convoy to Eastern Ghouta, its first since the beginning of this year.
The UN Syria peace mediator Staffan de Mistura has asked Iran, Russia and Turkey, which have been organizing peace talks for Syria in Kazakhstan's capital Astana for over a year, to work out a solution to the conflict.
Araqchi said Thursday that the Astana process was ongoing and "successful to a good extent."
Elsewhere in his remarks, Araqchi discussed "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent remarks against Iran following Syria's downing of an intruding Israeli fighter jet.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference last week, Netanyahu claimed that his entity had shut down an Iranian drone that had flown into the occupied Palestinian territories.
Dismissing Netanyahu's claims, Araqchi shrugged off the threat and said both the Zionist entity and the US knew how Iran would react to any act of aggression on their part.
Source: Press TV, Edited by website team
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