Iran, Russia against 'external attempts' to dump Assad

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran.

Russia and Iran jointly oppose "external attempts" to bring regime change in Syria, a Kremlin official said on Monday in Tehran after President Vladimir Putin met supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The comments were a direct rebuff of repeated demands from the United States, France, Britain and Saudi Arabia that President Bashar Al Assad step down and play no future role in war-torn Syria.
On his first trip to Iran in eight years, Putin, accompanied by his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, went straight into a meeting with Khamenei, the Islamic republic's ultimate authority.
Describing the 90-minute encounter as "quite constructive" and longer than planned, a Kremlin spokesman said the two countries had "unity of views" on Syria.
Russia and Iran are against "external attempts to dictate scenarios of political settlement" in the conflict-wracked state, and only Syria's people could decide to dump Assad in elections following a ceasefire.
Khamenei said the US had a "long-term plan" to dominate Syria and the Middle East which would "disadvantage all countries, especially Iran and Russia".
"This threat should be neutralised wisely and with closer interaction," he was quoted as saying in a statement.
Putin and Khamenei met before the Russian leader headed to a major summit of gas exporting countries in the Iranian capital.
Iran and Russia have become increasingly allied in Syria providing support that has propped up Assad's government and forces since an uprising erupted in 2011.
What began as a conflict between Assad's army and Western- and Gulf-backed rebels has since spiralled into a multi-faceted war that has killed more than 250,000.
Attention is currently focused on stopping Daesh group.
The threat from Daesh has taken on new potency and spread into Europe since the jihadists committed coordinated gun and bomb attacks in Paris on November 13, killing 130 people.
For Russia, defending Assad and confronting Daesh has become more important since the militants blew up a Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on October 31, killing all 224 on board.
During Putin's visit the Kremlin announced it had lifted a ban on Russian firms working on uranium enrichment at Iran's atomic sites, following the nuclear deal.
Putin's trip was planned before the UN Security Council on Friday authorised countries to "take all necessary measures" to fight Daesh in a France-sponsored resolution one week after the Paris attacks.
But Moscow's aim of an international coalition made up of Iran, Jordan and other regional and Western countries against Daesh is coming up against deadlock over Assad's future, which recent peace talks in Vienna failed to break.
AFP

• MENA