Iran's Rouhani Warns of Syria Talibanization
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned Thursday that Syria could become an extremist haven like Taliban-era Afghanistan as he called for cooperation to end the country's civil war.
Iran considers Syrian President Bashar Assad its closest regional ally and has not accepted U.S. intelligence that the regime killed some 1,400 people in a chemical weapons attack last month.
"My government strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons in Syria," Rouhani told a New York think tank forum, without assigning blame.
"I am also concerned about the breeding ground created in parts of Syrian territory for extremist ideology and a rally point for terrorists, which is reminiscent of another region adjacent to our eastern borders in the 1990s," he said.
"This is an issue of concern not only to us but also to many other countries, which requires cooperation and joint efforts aimed at finding a durable, inter-Syrian political solution."
Iran, led by a Shiite theocracy, opposed the 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan of the Taliban, who welcomed al-Qaida militants and enforced an austere brand of Sunni Islam.
The secular-minded Assad belongs to the heterodox Alawite community and is battling rebels who include Sunni hardliners.
In an earlier false start of better ties, Iran and the United States briefly cooperated in 2001 when a U.S.-led campaign ousted the Taliban.
Rouhani welcomed a U.S.-Russian agreement for Assad to give up chemical weapons, which halted a push for a military strike on Syria by U.S. President Barack Obama.
"We are pleased that diplomacy... and sober judgment prevailed over saber-rattling," Rouhani said.
Iran itself was a victim of chemical weapons used by Iraq, a history acknowledged by Obama in his address to the United Nations earlier this week.
Western powers largely supported Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in his 1980-88 war against Iran.
Rouhani, elected in June on a platform of moderation, is on a visit to the United Nations aimed largely at easing tensions with Western powers over Iran's contested nuclear program.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held a brief but historic meeting Thursday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said that he agreed with major powers to seek a deal within a year to resolve concerns over Tehran's nuclear program.
But despite the upbeat tone, the United States was cool to letting Iran participate in a peace conference in Geneva on ending Syria's civil war, the next step after a U.N. Security Council resolution enforcing the U.S.-Russian chemical weapons agreement.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Iran first had to commit to the declaration of the first Geneva conference last year that called for a political transition in which Assad would leave.
"Anyone who wants to participate has to, at the very least, sign up to the Geneva communique and Iran has not explicitly done so," the official said.
27 September 2013, 11:21
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"Iran's Rouhani Warns of Syria Talibanization"
This would be a dire development for Lebanon which would become a "contested zone" much like Pakistan is today. Lebanon would sink to third world status much of the population and business leaving.
Lebanese politicians must take their case to the GCC specifically the KSA to cut funding so that the "Talibanization" of Syria does not happen.
27 September 2013, 16:32
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if the radicals take over syria, we will be much worse than pakistan. pakistan struggles with the extremists it partly created to fight in afghanistan, but pakistan is a huge and strong country. lebanon would be a mere province of syriastan if the unthinkable came to happen.
27 September 2013, 16:59
01
Scary thing is that he may be right; Extremists in Syria are on the rise and gaining more strengths . . . The challenge of stabilizing Syria is much greater now as many WILL NEVER accept going back to Assad and Baathist regime! We need to build a high concrete wall to separate the 2 countries and let them sort each other out. Also, HA and other Lebanese fighters in Syria should just go home and look after their lives and families
27 September 2013, 21:30
01
Ayatollah Hosseini Booshehri has warned against the public tendency
towards Christianity and the spread of house churches in many cities of Iran, especially in Qom. He stated, “Today the global aggressors have accurately planned and invested resources for these purposes. This is why in our country there is a strong inclination towards Christianity.” He added: “Our enemy through its planning has been able to advance the house churches in many cities of our country.”
Source: Arya News Agency; Arman Newspaper 1405 19th Mordad 1389
is iran better than talibans LOL
27 September 2013, 21:31
01
“Because they (Iran’s enemies) want to diminish the faith of people towards Islam and the sacred things of Islam by different means within the country they work to shake the foundation of the faith of people, especially the young generation with the spread of loose and shameless life styles, to the promotion of false mysticism - the fake type of real mysticism - to the spread of Baha’ism, to the spread of the network of house churches. This is what the enemies of Islam are up to with tact and calculation and careful study; their sole goal is to weaken the religion within the society.”
Source: www.irna.ir 19th October, 2010; BBC Persian website, 19th October 2010.
is iran better than talibans? LOL
27 September 2013, 21:47
01
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doug-bandow/tehrans-fearful-muslim-fu_b_3286340.html
http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/2074
and so on.... so talibans are evil and should be fought but iran is no better in religious tolerance...
27 September 2013, 22:00
01
Rouhani's warning is correct.
The question is , what could be and should be done to prevent the Talibanization of Syria?
Obviously the extension of the war waged by Assad against the majority of the Syrian people, and the full support of the Shiite Iran for his regime, have left the defenseless Syrians in many areas with no choice but to accept the protection of the Sunni extremists.
If Iran really wants to end the Syrian crisis it should drop its support to the Syrian regime and help the establishment of a moderate government in Syria.
Rouhani is right but the policies of his regime are the main cause of the Talibanization of Syria.
28 September 2013, 00:25
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Ya Hassan, your puppet masters and, presently, your country is not much better than the Taliban. We don't want you either.
