Iranian FM travels to Turkey for Syria talks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is to visit Turkey on Tuesday for previously unscheduled talks expected to focus on Syria and a group of Iranians seized by rebels there, an Iranian diplomat in Ankara said, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, arrived in Syria for talks with President Bashar al-Assad and other officials, Iranian state television IRIB said.

Iran has stood by its ally Syria despite the growing international pressure on Assad, while Turkey has been among the Syrian president's fiercest critics, demanding that he stand down to defuse a 17-month uprising against his rule.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry official confirmed Salehi's visit, saying it included talks on regional issues with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

The Iranian diplomat said Salehi was expected to arrive in the afternoon and leave later on Tuesday.

Jalili, who arrived in Syria after wrapping a visit to Lebanon, was scheduled to meet Assad and Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnous, IRIB said. Jalili planned to hold a press conference at Iran's embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, it said.

Jalili acts as the representative of Iran's ultimate authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and is also Iran's chief negotiator in Tehran's dispute with Western powers over its nuclear program.

Iran has asked Turkey, as well as Qatar, to help secure the release of 48 Iranians seized by rebels in Syria on suspicion of being military personnel, though Tehran says they are pilgrims.

Syrian rebels fighting to topple Assad accuse Iran of sending fighters from its Revolutionary Guard to help Assad's forces put down the uprising.

Tehran denies the charge and says the group was on a religious pilgrimage to Syria. Iranian media said on Saturday that the 48 had been abducted from a bus in Damascus, the latest in a string of kidnappings of visitors from the Islamic Republic.