Velayati: Iran Doesn’t Seek N-bomb, Supports Political Solution in Syria

Local Editor

Iran's former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati would "cooperate" with France to resolve the conflict in Syria should he win the June 14 presidential election, he said.

"My offer, if I am victorious, is that Iran and France sit together to talk, and work together, to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis," Velayati said. "I am ready to do it."

"France has lost its chance for a positive intervention" to solve the Syrian crisis, said Velayati who served as Iran's top diplomat from 1981 to 1997.
But he added that having a "long history of relations with Syria and Lebanon" puts France in a "better position" than other Western countries to resolve the Syria crisis.

Velayati, the international affairs advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, said the Geneva meeting presented "an opportunity," in a reference to the meeting initiated by Washington and Moscow for negotiations between Syria's regime and opposition to reach a political solution.
Asked about Iran's stance should Geneva lead to progress, he said Tehran wanted a "political and not a military solution. Iran will not make a decision on behalf of the Syrian government. If they accept the outcome of Geneva, we will support it."
Iran said last month it was willing to attend the conference, which was originally scheduled for June, stating that all influential parties must be included in the process for it to be a success.

Velayati reiterated that the Islamic republic is not seeking nuclear weapons that he said are banned by the Islamic religion.
"We have announced repeatedly that we are against developing nuclear bombs," he told AFP.
"Our supreme leader says developing a bomb is religiously forbidden," said Velayati, referring to a much-debated religious decree against nuclear weapons issued by Khamenei.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team