Tehran, (SANA)- Presidents Bashar al-Assad and President  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran on Sunday held a joint news conference in which they answered questions fielded by reporters.

President al-Assad, answering a question on the message his Excellency is carrying to the Iran as part of the mediation between the six countries and Iran, said "I noticed a sort of exaggeration with some media after the start of this visit through describing it as a visit by a Western envoy on the Iranian nuclear dossier."

His Excellency added that "I'm not a mediator nor envoy…I didn't carry any message from any Western official…our visit to Iran doesn't come as part of the nuclear dossier, but the nuclear dossier is part of this visit as it's always part of the talks between us and any Iranian official over the past years."

President al-Assad said that "apart from my visit to France and the latest developments in this dossier, it's not different from the previous visits except regarding the latest developments in the issues which we discusses on Lebanon, Palestine and others…but in France we were asked, through the firm friendship and relations between Syria and Iran, to play a role in solving this issue without outlining this role." 

His Excellency added that "we had already told the French side directly about our stance which is that any Syrian role is based on the relevant international treaties and on the basis that dialogue as the only way to solve this problem…it's naturally in this case to ask the Iranian officials in this visit about more details."

"we, as I said, are discussing this issue continuously, but wanted to understand the details of the Iranian stance so that we can have an answer to any side in this world which might ask any question or raise visions about the issue of the Iranian dossier. So the issue starts with Iran. This means we didn't start from France…we start from Iran to understand the Iranian point of view, and then we decide if there is a possibility for playing a role or not."

On the Syrian role, President al-Assad said the intention of this role is "to enhance the dialogue and making it constructive away from the political plans and pre-made ideas that exist with some countries in this world…and as I said this role is first based on the international agreements, and subsequently any country in the world has a right, as stated in the final statement, to possess peaceful nuclear energy, including the enrichment….and to depend on dialogue as a right way…it's early to outline this role before we listen to other points of view from the Western side."

For his part, Iranian President Ahmadinejad described the Syrian-Iranian relations as "firm and strong, and always move forward…we always make consultations over bilateral, regional issues and international relations and take decisions together."

President Ahmadinejad added that "we have discussed different regional and international issues…we also discussed in details the bilateral relations and ways of enhancing them. The Lebanese and the Palestinian issues as well as the issues on the Iraqi stage were also discussed.  Our points of view over these issues were really positive and good."  He pointed out to the existence of an important common vision in the two countries' points of view.

The Iranian President stressed that both countries "continue to discuss the issues of common interest for them, particularly under the current circumstances in our region which is witnessing great developments."

On the nuclear issues, the Iranian President said that "we believe that all those who stood against Iran over the past years have now reached a conviction that in this issue there is no other way but to involve into dialogue and consultation."

President Ahmadinejad added that "we're serious about the issue of dialogue, and willing to complete the dialogue on real basis of the law and give way to practical results on the ground…we hope that the other side is serious about the dialogue….we are ready to discuss different issues on the regional and international stages…our intentions are always based on peace and security."

The Iranian President stressed that the "current circumstances are positive and good, and the future will be for the interest of the two Syrian and Iranian peoples and for the interest of all the peoples of the region. All the joint efforts exerted by the two countries will be for the benefit of the peoples of the region."

Ahmad Fathi ZAHRA