Syria, Iran vow united front against foreign threats

With House shrugs off Iran-Syria united front as Damascus is under global suspicion over Hariri’s killing.


By Laurent Lozano - TEHRAN

Regional allies Iran and Syria pledged Wednesday to form a "united front" against foreign threats, with Damascus under global suspicion over the killing of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri held top-level talks in Tehran as Beirut ground to a halt to bury Hariri, two days after he was killed in a massive explosion.

Since then, the United States has ratcheted up the pressure on Damascus over its alleged role in the assassination and increasingly turned the screws on arch-foe Tehran for its alleged efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

"This meeting is taking place at a very important and delicate time, with Syria and Iran facing numerous challenges and it is important that they present a united front," the Syrian premier told reporters.

"Our Syrian brothers are facing specific threats and we hope they can benefit from our experience. We are ready to give them any help necessary," said Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref.

The White House said that Iran and Syria were "misreading" the international community if their vow to form a united front against foreign threats was aimed at the United States.

Spokesman Scott McClellan said "it wasn't clear" whether Tehran and Damascus, which are locked in separate diplomatic bouts with Washington, were referring to the United States.

But "if they're talking about the United States, you know, I think that it's a fundamental misreading of the issue," McClellan told reporters as Bush traveled here to push his domestic agenda.

"Their problem is not with the United States, it's with the international community. Both Syria and Iran have international obligations and they need to abide by the commitments they have made," he said.

Washington, which imposed sanctions on Damascus last year, has spent the past few months hardening its rhetoric over Syria's presence in Lebanon, alleged support for terrorism and interference in Iraq.

Iran and the United States severed diplomatic ties in 1979 following the Islamic revolution, which swept conservative clerics to power in Tehran.

Washington recalled its ambassador to Damascus after Hariri's murder and insists Syria comply with a UN Security Council resolution and recall its troops from Lebanon.

On Tuesday, US officials said they were consulting the Security Council on a response to the bombing and mulling additional sanctions against Syria if it did not resolve the catalogue of US complaints.

"The Syrian government is unfortunately on a path right now where relations are not improving, but are worsening," said top US diplomat Condoleezza Rice.

In his State of the Union address, US President George W. Bush admonished the Syrian and Iranian regimes, accusing both of sponsoring terrorism and urging them to open the door to freedom.

Iran and Syria are also the principal backers of the Lebanese-based Shiite movement Hezbollah, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organisation.

The United States has since hinted at possible military action against Iran over its nuclear activities -- a standoff that the European Union is trying to defuse through frantic negotiations with Iranian officials.

Highlighting the tensions, a powerful explosion in an Iranian province where a nuclear plant is being built, raised fears of a possible attack but officials said the blast was caused by major roadworks.

Speaking to the official IRNA news agency ahead of his two-day visit -- ostensibly to further trade and economic ties -- Otri described the outlook for Iranian-Syrian friendship as "brilliant, despite the American threats".

Set to inaugurate a new Syrian cultural centre in Tehran, he went on to give a ringing endorsement of the economic and social achievements of the last 26 years of the Islamic republic.

Accompanied by a clutch of ministers and economic decision-makers, Otri was to co-chair an Iranian-Syrian committee on economic cooperation and sign various economic agreements with Aref before going home on Thursday.