Syria's closest ally, Iran, has called on the government in Damascus to listen to the people's "legitimate demands" as pro-democracy protestors across the country continued to defy a violent crackdown.
See the New York Times’ report here.
Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying:
“The government should answer to the demands of its people, be it Syria, Yemen or other countries.
“The people of these nations have legitimate demands, and the governments should answer these demands as soon as possible.”
It was Iran’s first comment on the crisis that has engulfed Syria for five months.
The government’s crackdown has resulted in the deaths of over 2,200 protestors, according a UN report which also says crimes against humanity may have taken place.
The New York Times pointed out that Iran’s comments come even as Tehran has maintained an unyielding crackdown on its own dissenters.
Last week the European Union, tightening sanctions against the Syrian government and individual people and groups seen to be aiding it, also placed sanctions on the secretive Al Quds wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, saying it was providing technical and material support for Syria’s crackdown on demonstrators.
