Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday expressed confidence that Syria would not abandon its anti-Israeli stance despite peace talks with Israel, reported dpa according to official news agency IRNA reported.
"I am confident that the Syrian leadership will have a wise management of the new scenery and not abandon the front until the annihilation of all threats by the Zionist regime (Israel)," Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with visiting Syrian Defence Minister Hassan Turkmani.
"Palestine is the main front for struggling against the Zionist regime's crimes and thereafter supporting the Palestinian nation is de facto supporting regional security," Ahmadinejad added.
Turkmani was quoted by IRNA as saying Tehran and Damascus ties were historic and strategic, and that no development could distort stable relations.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday played down the importance of Turkish-mediated peace talks between Syria and Israel, just saying Israel should return the Golan Heights to Syria with no preconditions.
Syria is the closest Arab ally of Iran, mainly owing to the anti- Israeli stance of the two countries.
Talks with Israel, regardless of content, has always been rejected by Iran as acknowledgement of the Jewish state.
Observers in Tehran therefore believe Iran was irritated by the indirect Israeli-Syrian peace talks in Istanbul.