Russia says Iran is a strategic partner in fight against terrorism

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran is a strategic partner of Russia in various fields, including the fight against terrorism, the Russian envoy to Lebanon said, denouncing the US accusations against Tehran on destabilizing the region, IRNA reports.

'We believe that Iran is fighting terrorism shoulder-to-shoulder with Russia,' said Alexander Zasypkin in an exclusive interview with IRNA.

He said, 'We want the region to be stable and ask every country to behave proportionately to their territorial size, away from expansionism and greed.'

'Russia does not see such negative behaviors from Iran, therefore, we are sure that Iran is seeking to make the situation calm,' said the Russian ambassador. Answering a question on comments by some analysts that recent air attack against a Syrian military base by Israeli planes was a message to Moscow, he said that Israel had attacked the country even before presence of the Russian troops in Syria.

'Moscow and Tel Aviv has agreed to avoid aerial confrontation; the bombing has to do with Syria and Hezbollah, rather than Russia,' the Russian envoy added.

He also rejected the possibility of waging war by Israel against Syria or Hezbollah, saying that there was no indication of such a war.