FM Zarif:

‘Milking’ continues unabated

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif, while hailing the Wed. Ankara summit on Syrian issue, lambasted Washington for ‘milking’ Saudi Arabia for additional $4bn in order to keep US troops in Syria.

News ID: 69547

Date: 05 April 2018 - 13:03

In a tweet on Wednesday night, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif deemed the three-way summit between presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey held in Ankara to address the Syrian issue ‘crucial’, and hailed the summit as a “joint renewal of commitment to sovereignty, independence, unity, territorial integrity and non-sectarian character of Syria.”

He further described the joint efforts by the three guarantor states as “building on the achievements of Astana and Sochi to secure lasting cease-fires and advance political process.”

The summit was the second of such tripartite summit following one in November in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. Tehran will be hosting the third summit on finding a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

Zarif then described the transactions between the US and Saudi Arabia in regard to the Syrian situation as ‘milking’, saying “President Trump demands additional $4B from Daesh [ISIL] financiers to keep uninvited US troops in Syria.”

“Anything to reverse successes against extremists and undermine Syrian national unity,” he added.