FM: Unilateral Military Intervention In Syria, Worrisome

Tehran, Sept 3, IRNA – Foreign Minister, in a telephone conversation with his Philipinos counterpart Albert del Rosario, discussed regional developments, especially Syria, and expressed concern on unilateral military intervention there. According to the report of Foreign Ministry Media Department on Monday, Mohammad-Javad Zarif said that resorting to force is totally illegal and disruptive to international security and peace and will deepen crisis in the Middle East. He continued that resorting to military force in Syria will have dangerous consequences and the initiator of the move cannot control its consequences, while it is not still clear who is responsible for using chemical weapons and the report of the UN inspectors is not published yet. Zarif continued that Iran is the biggest victim of the chemical weapons, so Iranians are very sensitive concerning use of this weapon and in our view using such deadly weapons is prohibited and condemned. Rosario, for his part, by referring to friendly relations between Tehran and Manila, underlined his country's wish to expand bilateral cooperation. By describing current situation in the Middle East and necessity of examining all aspects of the problem, Rosario called exchanging views between the two foreign ministers useful and asked for continuation of political consultations between the two countries./end