Diplomacy, not military, to end Syria crisis: FM

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says only diplomacy and not military approaches can settle the five-year-old crisis in Syria.

“The Syrian crisis can be only resolved politically, and a solution to the Syrian crisis will not be achieved through military means,” Zarif said in a joint press conference with Norway's Foreign Minister Boerge Brende in Oslo on Monday, Press TV reported.

Noting that Iran believes the conflict in Syria will be only resolved through a diplomatic mechanism, Zarif added that Iran’s four-point initiative can help find a solution to the Syrian crisis.

Iran has drawn up a four-point peace plan on the Syrian crisis, which calls for a national unity government, ceasefire, fighting terrorism and constitutional reforms in the violence-torn Arab nation.

The FM also stressed the importance of strengthening relations with Norway in different sectors after the implementation of the last year’s nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCOA), reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.

In a Monday meeting with the president of Norway's parliament, Olemic Thommessen, Zarif said the two countries can boost cooperation in different fields including fishery and energy.

Thommessen, for his part, welcomed the expansion of mutual relations and expressed hope that Tehran and Oslo would adopt strategies to improve parliamentary cooperation.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, the Iranian foreign minister arrived in Norway on Monday to hold talks with the European country’s officials and participate in the Oslo Forum.

Zarif also held separate meetings with the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, Anniken Huitfeldt, and former prime ministers Kjell Magne Bondevik and Kare Willoch.

SS