Defence agreement between Syria and Iran
American "threats" are, for Teheran, "a psychological operation," while Iranian military installations "are based on a strategy and a policy of dissuasion."
Teheran (AsiaNews) Defence ties strengthen between Iran and Syria, two countries facing international pressure and US accusations of being "rogue states" which support terrorism.
Yesterday, the two countries' ministers of defence, the Iranian Mustafa Mohammad Najar and the Syrian Hassan Turkmani, signed a military cooperation agreement "in light of American and Israeli threats." The agreement, as stated in their final communiqué, insists upon "reinforcing bilateral cooperation" and "the need to preserve peace and stability in the region," with the "elimination of all weapons of mass destruction." In this regard, Najar said that his country is ready to sign "non-aggression agreements" with other states in the region.
Sana, official Syrian news agency, writes that the two ministers said that "viewpoints between the two countries are identical towards political issues in the region", that "threats against Syria and Iran are not new" and that "our policy depends on resistance and steadfastness in confronting those threats,"
Referring to American "threats", which he defined "a psychological operation," the Iranian minister stated that Iranian military installations "are based on a strategy and policy of dissuasion." The Jerusalem Post, quoting AP, writes that Najar said that his country could "make use of nuclear defence": words that did not appear however in any other media coverage.
The Iranian minister did however speak well of the Shahab-3 missile, which has a range of 2,000 kilometres, enough to reach Israel and American bases in the Middle East.
As for Damascus, "Iran considers Syria's security to be its own, and its own defence capacity Syria's." The Syrian minister, in conferming the solidity of relations between the two states, refused however to give indications on what his country would do in case of an Israeli attack against Teheran.
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03/03/2006
