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Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, international affairs advisor to the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, has said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prohibited the government from holding talks with the United States over Syria.

In a meeting with the visiting Speaker of the People's Council of Syria Hadiya Khalaf Abbas, Amir-Abdollahian said the Supreme Leader’s advice came against the background of US efforts to lure Moscow into eliminating Syrian President Bashar Assad, IRIB news agency reported on September 28.

The US was also trying through diplomatic channels to encourage Iran to discard Assad as having a role in the future of Syria, said Amir-Abdollahian, who used to act as deputy foreign minister for African and Arab affairs before he moved to the Parliament in July.

Hadiya Khalaf Abbas a day earlier met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, where Rouhani pledged unwavering support for Syria in the fight against terrorism, saying Tehran favors Syria’s territorial integrity and unity and opposes any change in the borders across the region.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will keep assisting Syria in the fight against terrorism and in the establishment of security in the region,” he said.

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani also in a meeting with Abbas deplored Washington’s double standards on terrorism, saying that the main reason behind the failure of international efforts to end the Syrian war is the United States’ support for terrorists.

Shamkhani said the US and some European countries should explain the link between their call for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and the recent heavy defeats the terrorists have suffered in Syria.

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