Supreme Leader Calls on US to Prove Honesty in New Approach on Syria
TEHRAN
(FNA)- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali
Khamenei expressed the hope that the US would prove honest in its new
approach which annuls its earlier declaration of war on Syria, but
meantime, underlined that Iran continues to pursue the regional
developments thoroughly and vigilantly.
"We hope that the new US approach on Syria will be serious and far
from political games," Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing Iranian Hajj
officials in Tehran on Wednesday.
"If so, it will mean that the US is returning from its self-centered
and wrong approach (that it had adopted) in the last few weeks," he
added.
Ayatollah Khamenei also blasted the US and its allies for threatening
Syria with military attack, and said, "They even embark on setting fire
and trampling other countries and nations' interests for their alleged
national interests which are, in fact, the interests of the Zionists and
the big capitalists."
He stressed that Tehran is following the regional developments attentively and vigilantly.
His remarks came after US President Barack Obama said Monday he will
stop a US plan to strike Syria if the country agrees with the Russian
proposal to surrender its possible chemical stocks to international
control.
Obama said the Russian proposal could lead to a "breakthrough," but
added that the US will maintain pressure on Syria by continuing his push
for Congress to authorize military action.
As the US Congress debates authorizing an attack on Syria, Russia on
Monday proposed Syria put its chemical weapons under international
control.
The idea is a "potentially positive development", Obama said, adding
that Washington will work with Moscow and the international community
"to see if we can arrive at something that is enforceable and serious",
the Islam Times reported.
The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has welcomed the Russian proposal.
Obama on Monday gave a series of television interviews in an attempt
to gain support from lawmakers and public for a limited military strike
on Syria.
Media reports suggest that even international allies of the United
States are skeptical of Obama’s war plan in the Middle-East.
Recent polls show that the majority of Americans oppose any US military action against Syria.
In recent days, the US, Israel and France have adopted the rhetoric of
war against Syria over allegations that the Syrian government was
behind a recent chemical attack near Damascus.
The call for military strike intensified after the militants operating
inside Syria and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition claimed on August
21 that hundreds had been killed in a government chemical attack on
militant strongholds in the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and
Jobar. The Syrian government has strongly denied the claim, accusing the
militants of the attack.
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