Iran\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi (R) and his Lebanese counterpart Adnan Mansour attend a joint press conference in Tehran on June 22, 2013. <\/p>\n
Iran and Lebanon have called for a stop to arms delivery to militants in Syria, saying it will not resolve the ongoing crisis but will only escalate violence in the Arab country.\n<\/p>\n
Iran\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and his Lebanese counterpart Adnan Mansour voiced their opposition to arms funneling into Syria during a joint press conference in the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday.\n<\/p>\n
Salehi said that the West\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s support for militants in Syria contradicted their claim of supporting human rights.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201c<\/p>\n
I am amazed at how the Western [countries] who talk of [support for] human rights [can] give weapons to cannibals in Syria to increase their cannibalism,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
He criticized the double standards of Western countries and said their justification to send arms to militants was totally unacceptable. <\/p>\n
Salehi also said that Iran supports any meeting aimed at resolving the Syrian unrest that takes into consideration Syria\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s national interests and reject foreign interference.\n<\/p>\n
He added that the ongoing crisis in Syria must be resolved through a domestic solution, stressing that the people of Syria must determine their own fate.\n<\/p>\n
The Lebanese foreign minister, for his part, said the continued unrest in Syria would destroy the country and its economy as well as the whole region.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cSending arms to militants [in Syria] will not serve the interests of the people neither in Syria, nor the region. The move only prolongs the violence in the country,\u201d Mansour added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Syria has been in crisis since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of Syrian security forces, have been killed in the unrest.<\/p>\n
The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants fighting in Syria are foreign nationals.\n<\/p>\n
AR\/HGH
\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n