Iran MP: Tehran backs domestic reforms in Syria

“Iran hopes that President Bashar al-Assad … will maintain Syria’s stability and restore peace to the country through executing reforms and preventing foreign interference,” head of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on Saturday, IRNA reported. Describing Syria as the “axis of resistance” against the Zionist regime of Israel, the Iranian legislator noted that efforts by the US and its allies to upset the Syrian political establishment have been futile. Despite making a “billion-dollar investment” and leveraging all the capacities of the Arab League, particularly Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Washington failed to achieve its goal and this policy “faced defeat like other US policies in the region,” Boroujerdi further pointed out. He reiterated Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s recent assertion that Tehran is categorically opposed to any foreign intervention in Syria, saying, “Iran has so far supported Syria and will remain its supporter as long as the country continues its policy of backing the [anti-Zionist] resistance.” “The Islamic Republic will defend Syria because of its support for the resistance front against the Zionist regime (Israel) and is vehemently opposed to any intervention by foreign forces in Syrian internal affairs,” Ayatollah Khamenei had said in a recent meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Iranian holy city of Mashhad. Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March last year. Many people, including security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.