Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham has called the recent comments made by US Secretary of State John Kerry regarding Iran's role in Syria "unrealistic".
"The US Secretary of State's comments are not reflecting the Syrian realities and should be considered as physiological projection," Afkham said, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported Sept. 24.
On Sept. 22, Kerry called on Russia and Iran to help with diplomatic efforts to end the four-year conflict in Syria.
The US top diplomat said that Washington is ready to engage in a dialogue to promote a peace agreement that would see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad removed from power.
Meanwhile the Iranian spokeswoman said that the US and its allies' stances towards the Syria and setting conditions are the main obstacles against resolving the crisis in Syria.
She also called the US to put aside its former "wrong policies" regarding the Syria help settling the crisis.
Afkham further said that the Islamic Republic has always supported political solution and formation of Syrian-Syrian dialogue as the unique path to ending the war.
Tehran and Moscow share the same stance towards Syria, supporting the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. The Islamic Republic views the Syrian regime as its main strategic ally in the region and as part of an "axis of resistance" against Israel.
The Syrian opposition claims that Iranian military forces are fighting against them, while Iran dismisses the claims, saying that Iran only has advisors in Syria, to transfer its military experience to the Syrian army.
During the conflict in Syria, which began in March 2011, more than 150,000 people have been killed in the country and over 4.2 million have become refugees in Syrian territory and two million have fled to neighboring countries.