Iran, Syria join hands with Russia to settle Syrian crisis

Iranian and Syrian officials vowed to continue trilateral consultations and cooperation with Russia in a bid to defeat terrorism and find political solutions to the crisis in the Arab country, Press TV reported on Monday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the visiting Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad met in capital Tehran on Monday and discussed mutual relations as well as the latest political and military developments in Syria.

They also exchanged views on the recent trilateral meeting, between Iran, Russia and Syria, held in Moscow last month.

The Iranian side stressed the importance of holding more three-sided consultations and said the sides should also improve their cooperation at the international level.

Top diplomats of Russia, Syria and Iran met in Moscow on Oct. 28 and vowed to defend the revival of intra-Syria talks in order to facilitate a political solution to the protracted crisis in the war-torn Middle East country.

All the three parties reaffirmed that there is no alternative to the settlement of the Syria crisis by political and diplomatic means.

On Monday, Mekdad hailed what he called Iran's "principled" stance on the regional issues, particularly the crisis in his country.

Iran stands at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and extremism, he said, adding that friendly countries to Syria must further exchange views about the political solutions to the Syrian crisis.

The Islamic republic, along with Russia, have emerged as the major allies of the Syrian government in its struggle against the militant groups who are seeking the overthrow of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Since 2011, when the Syrian civil war began, more than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and millions of the Syrians have been displaced from their homes.