Syrian president says talks with US would be 'waste of time'

Assad told a Russian television station in an interview that he thinks it would be pointless to have talks with the United States.

“Negotiations with the US now will not lead to anything; it’s an empty waste of time. We are not going to talk to Americans just because they are Americans,” he said during interview with the NTV station to be aired on Sunday. 

"We are ready to talk to anyone with whom we can achieve results, but we consider that US policy will not change in the future," the president noted.

The Syrian leader made remarks in repose to a question  whether his government was maintaining open lines of communication with Trump administration.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Assad stated that US presidents have always been devising their policies under influence of lobbies and financial institutions.

“The problem with the American presidents is that they are hostages to their lobbies, the mainstream media, huge corporations, financial institutions, oil and etc.”

Earlier in an interview in May, the Syrian president said that  Trump's "animal Assad" slur is representation of the US president himself.  

The US and its allies have been bombarding what they call Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

The strikes have on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfill their declared aim of countering terrorism.

Damascus says US and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups operating inside the Arab country, while the Tel Aviv regime's military carries out sporadic strikes against Syrian government forces.

The Israeli regime, one of the United States' top allies, has even set up field hospitals to treat wounded militants evacuated from Syria.

Furthermore, the Syrian army has repeatedly seized huge quantities of US and Israeli-made weapons and advanced military equipment from the foreign-backed militants inside Syria.