Iran, Syria shrug off US call to weaken alliance

Syria, Iran consult on how to face 'Zionist threats' against peoples of Mideast region.

DAMASCUS - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Iranian counterpart President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday publicly shrugged off US efforts to drive a wedge between the two Middle East allies.

"I am surprised by their call to keep a distance between the countries ... when they raise the issue of stability and peace in the Middle East, and all the other beautiful principles," Assad said.

"We need to further reinforce relations if the true objective is stability. We do not want others to give us lessons on our region, our history," the Syrian leader told a joint media conference with Ahmadinejad.

The Iranian president, who flew in to Damascus earlier in the day, stressed that ties between the two states were as "solid" as ever.

"Relations between Syria and Iran are brotherly, deep, solid and permanent ... Nothing can damage these relations," he said.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington has been pressing Syria -- amid steps toward a normalization of US-Syria ties -- to move away from Iran.

Ahmadinejad also renewed his prediction that Israel was "on the path to disappearing," meaning it would be dismantled like the former Soviet Union.

Iran believes in the one-state solution, where Palestinians and Jews live in peace side by side in one democratic state that would not be called Israel, as Palestinians would constitute a majority.

Ahmadinejad said on leaving Iran headed for Syria that the two countries would not be deterred.

"While the Zionists make permanent threats against my country and peoples of the region ... Syria and Iran must consult and take decisions to confront these threats," he said, quoted by Iran's Fars news agency.

Assad, for his part, also defended Iran's right to pursue uranium enrichment, despite the threat of new sanctions against Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.

"To forbid an independent state the right to enrichment amounts to a new colonialist process in the region," he said.

The visit comes after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Damascus was determined to help Iran and the West engage in a "constructive" dialogue over Tehran's nuclear program.

Some governments charge that the nuclear program in Iran -- which earlier this month started higher grade uranium enrichment -- is cover for a drive to produce a bomb.

Tehran vehemently denies the allegation, arguing that it needs to generate nuclear energy for its growing population which is already dependent on importing 40% of its gasoline needs.

Iran also cites the need to develop nuclear technology for medical purposes to treat its cancer patients.

The Iranian president's last visit to Syria, a close ally of Tehran for the past 30 years, dates back to May 2009.

On the eve of the visit, President Barack Obama's administration said it has been pressing Damascus -- amid steps toward a normalization of US-Syria ties -- to move away from Iran.

Testifying in the Senate, Clinton was blunter than ever about Washington's bid to drive a wedge between Damascus and Tehran.

Clinton said William Burns, the third-ranking US diplomat, "had very intense, substantive talks in Damascus" when he visited Syria last week, in the highest-level such US mission for five years.

Syria is being asked "generally to begin to move away from the relationship with Iran," she said.

Washington accuses Syria and Iran of supporting the liberation movements Hezbollah in Lebanon and democratically elected Hamas in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

In addition to the Palestinian territories (Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem), the Syrian Golan Heights and the Lebanese Shabaa Farms have been under illegal Israeli occupation since 1967.

Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=37479.