Tehran, Iran, November 23
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met Russian President Vladimir Putin, Khamenei's official website reported Nov.23.
The Leader hailed Russia's influential role in regional issues, particularly in the Syrian conflict, and said Moscow's decisions and measures in dealing with developments in Damascus enhanced regional and international credit of Russia and President Putin in particular.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani wants to discuss the region's problems with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, said Hossein Sheikholeslam, Iranian parliament chairman's advisor for international affairs. The leaders will in particular mull the situation in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, he told Sputnik agency.
"The Americans have always been trying to place their rivals in a position of passivity but you have foiled such a policy," Ayatollah Khamenei said.
Ayatollah Khamenei said Washington's insistence on the ouster of Syria's legitimate and democratically-elected President Bashar al-Assad is among the weaknesses of the US policies.
He said the Syrian president, in a national election, succeeded in winning the majority of votes of the Syrian people with "different political, religious and ethnic" viewpoints and emphasized that the US has no right to ignore the Syrians' choice.
Putin has arrived in Tehran to attend the third summit of the leaders the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).
The four-day meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum kicked off on Nov.20 in Tehran and the third summit of the leaders of the GECF member states is to be held in the evening of the Nov.23 with participation of nine heads of states.
The presidents of Bolivia, Russia, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Venezuela Iraq andTurkmenistan as well as Algerian prime minister are expected to attend the meeting.
Russia, Iran, Qatar, Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, and the United Arab Emirates, are main members of the GECF. Observer countries are the Netherlands, Iraq, Oman, Peru, Azerbaijan and Norway.
GECF members account for 42 percent of global gas output, 70 percent of global gas reserve, 40 percent of piped gas transfer, and 65 percent of global trade of Liquefied Natural Gas.