Iran's Top Diplomat Tells Sputnik How to Bring Permanent Peace to Syria

The idea that there is no military solution to the Syrian crisis should be fixed in every final document of an international meeting on Syria otherwise the short-term truce can't be regarded as achievement, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari told Sputnik at his press conference in Moscow.

Commenting on the Russia-US brokered ceasefire agreement, Iran's top diplomat said that there have been many ceasefire announcements in Syria. However it is important that the cessation of hostilities or the temporary ceasefire gets a permanent status.

This will give all the parties to the Syrian conflict a chance to end it. Otherwise this short-term truce can't be regarded as anything important.

"Unfortunately previous cessations of hostilities in Syria were immediately violated by armed terrorist groups. The reason is that some players which have an influence on the development in Syria still do not want to believe and accept that there are different ways of peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis rather than the military solution they push for."

Iran, he said, has always insisted on fixing the notion that "the participants are convinced that the Syrian crisis has no military solution" in every protocol of any international conference or otherwise meeting on Syria.

"Our Russian partners and other participants to these international forums know only too well which countries were against this particular item to be included into the final document," Ansari said.

The politician said that many countries think that they can easily apply such tools as terrorism, extremism, imposition of their own opinion on other countries and peoples to achieve their own political goals.

"Such a concept is a breeding ground for violation of any ceasefire and an obstacle on the way to the next step in settling up the Syrian crisis," he said.

The diplomat said that there are two pre-conditions for this ceasefire to become a success: first, it should be a serious multiparty opposition to the terrorism and all forms of extremism. All the parties to the conflict should call for a halt of arms deliveries, financial and human inflow into the hands of terrorists.

Second, the political horizon should be open both for the Syrian people and the representatives of different groups for them "to find a reason for hope."

Based on these concepts, the fight against terrorism should become a priority and the demands and requirements of the Syrian people should be taken into account while launching any legislative reforms.

These issues should be open for discussion within the internal Syrian dialogue, as it is the Syrian people who should decide their own fate, the diplomat said.

"If these principles are violated, if we do not seriously fight against terrorism but rather use it as a tool, there will be no political dialogue," he added.

If this happened, other political players would impose their opinion on Syria and there will be no changes to the current situation.

The crisis and the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria risks deteriorating. All the large players should do their best to prevent this happening, he finally stated.