Associated Press
Beirut/Brussels, 5 August
Iran’s new president has expressed his country’s support to Syria’s embattled leader Bashar Assad’s regime, saying no force in the world will be able to shake their decades-old alliance.
Hassan Rouhani’s comments came as Syrian troops and rebels fought some of the fiercest battles in the mountains of the coastal province of Latakia, an Assad stronghold.  Mr Rouhani made the comments during a meeting in Teheran yesterday with Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi, Syria’s state news agency SANA said.
Syria has been Tehran’s strongest ally in the Arab world since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran has been one of Mr Assad’s staunchest backers since Syria’s crisis began. Teheran is believed to have supplied Mr Assad’s government with billions of dollars since the country’s crisis began in March 2011.
Iran-supported Hezbollah also has sent fighters into Syria to bolster an offensive by Assad forces. “The Islamic Republic of Iran aims to strengthen its relations with Syria and will stand by it in facing all challenges,” SANA quoted Mr Rouhani as saying in a report from Teheran.
“The deep, strategic and historic relations between the people of Syria and Iran ~ will not be shaken by any force in the world.”
Mr Rouhani was elected in June and was endorsed by the country’s supreme leader on Saturday, allowing him to begin acting as president. He was sworn in Sunday.
EU calls for rapid progress:
The European Union urged Iran’s new president today to make “rapid progress” towards resolving concerns over the country’s disputed nuclear programme after he struck an apparently more conciliatory stance.
The West is hoping that President Hassan Rowhani will take a more constructive approach in the long-running talks on Teheran’s nuclear drive, which despite Iranian denials is suspected by world powers of having military objectives.
Yesterday, he repeated his campaign promise to help Iranians who are struggling under the weight of US and EU economic sanctions and called for “mutual respect” with the West, striking a sharply different tone from his predecessor. US and EU sanctions have crippled Iran’s once lucrative oil sector, cut its access to global banking and contributed to soaring inflation and a shrinking economy.