Iran reaffirms support for Annan’s peace plan for Syria

“We support Annan’s plan and consider it as the only sensible way (for Syria) to get out of this situation,” Salehi said Tuesday.

On March 11, Annan said he had presented a set of concrete proposals to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during two rounds of talks in Damascus. His six-point plan was to begin with a ceasefire in mid-April between government forces and rebels fighting the Syrian government.

He made the remarks in a meeting with visiting deputy undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Halit Cevik, who has travelled to Tehran to attend the Iran-Turkey political committee on Tuesday.

    The Iranian foreign minister reiterated Tehran’s readiness to host talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups and expressed hope that peace and stability would be restored in the Arab country.

Salehi also dismissed assumptions that the Syrian government would be ousted as ‘unjustifiable’.

Cevik, for his part, warned against any foreign interference in Syria’s internal affairs and said the Syrian people should determine their own destiny.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.

While the West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing protesters, Damascus blames 'outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups' for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.