Post date: Aug 26, 2012 7:12:59 PM
DAMASCUS, SYRIA (AUGUST 26, 2012) (REUTERS) - The Syrian government is "tentatively" ready to meet with opposition under the Iranian patronage, an Iranian official said on Sunday (August 26).
A senior Iranian official holding talks in Syria says Bashar al-Assad's government is tentatively ready to meet with opposition in order to find a solution to the 17-month crisis.
The head of the Iranian Islamic Parliament's National and Foreign Policy Alaeddin Boroujerdi had been visiting a number of Syrian officials in Damascus, including President Bashar al-Assad.
In a translation from Farsi to Arabic provided to Reuters TV by a Damascus-based member of Iran's embassy staff, Boroujerdi told a news conference on Sunday, "The Syrian authorities welcomed tentatively the dialogue with the opposition."
He added the dialogue will be held only once the opposition and the countries supporting it with weapons, agree on a political solution for the Syrian crisis.
"The acceptance of the dialogue by the Syrian government is a positive sign. If the opposition, the armed opposition and the countries that are supporting it with weapons accepted to, the dialogue will be held ", Boroujerdi said, according to a translation provided to Reuters TV by a Damascus-based member of Iran's embassy staff.
Boroujerdi said Iran is ready to host the talks and stressed a political solution for the 17-month conflict between Syrian government and armed rebels.
"We are ready to provide the ground of the dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition. We believe that the political solution is the only way to solve this crisis ", he said.
Boroujerdi also met with Syrian Vice-President Farouq al-Sharaa. It was Sharaa's first public appearance in weeks, ending rumours by opposition activists that he had defected from President Assad's government.