TEHRAN – Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a senior foreign policy advisor to the Iranian Parliament speaker, has said Tehran will continue to defend Syria and its security with all its power.

“We also support the United Nations’ constructive efforts in helping Syria and judging the issues surrounding Syria independently,” Amir Abdollahian said on Monday, according to Mehr.

He made the remarks in his meeting with the UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen.

“Unfortunately, certain dangerous terrorist groups are trying to get removed from the United Nations blacklist of terrorists by changing their names, so adopting an impartial approach and not witnessing double standards is of great importance for the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Amir Abdollahian tells the UN special envoy for Syria.

During the meeting, the advisor said Iran welcomes UN’s efforts intended to preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty.

“Unfortunately, certain dangerous terrorist groups are trying to get removed from the United Nations blacklist of terrorists by changing their names, so adopting an impartial approach and not witnessing double standards is of great importance for the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the career diplomat remarked.

“We believe that in the work of the Constitutional Committee, all parties are responsible and should be held accountable,” Amir-Abdollahian pointed out.

He added that blaming the Syrian government is in conflict with the policy of neutrality.

The Islamic Republic was the first country to rush to Syria’s assistance after the Arab nation came under the scourge of the Takfiri terrorist group of Daesh in 2014.

Iran has warned that it will deliver a “crushing response” to any party seeking to trouble the Islamic Republic’s presence in the Arab country.

“Anyone, who could try to obstruct Iran’s advisory presence in Syria will be served with a crushing response,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Sunday. The Israeli regime, he said, “knows this that the era of hitting and running is far over. It [therefore] treads carefully.”

However, Tel Aviv’s aggressive attitude is “irremediable” and can only be confronted with comprehensive resistance on every front where it seeks to create disturbances, Khatibzadeh added.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said earlier that all the “cruel and unfair” sanctions against Syria’s government and nation must be lifted, not least at the time of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

All unjust and illegal sanctions against the Syrian government and people must be lifted, particularly under the current conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Zarif said in a separate meeting with Pedersen in Tehran on Saturday.

He also criticized certain countries for obstructing the political resolution of the crisis in the Arab country.

“In recent years, good opportunities have arisen to end the crisis” in Syria, but they were squandered by certain states, Iran's top diplomat added.

MH/PA