Rouhani says terrorism is the problem, not Bashar Al-Assad

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani claimed on Monday that the major problem facing the Middle East region is terrorism and not Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s government. Rouhani told CNN television on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos that, “Everyone, including Western governments, knows well that the most dangerous terrorists have converged inside Syria,” and that “some countries are providing them with the means and the money.”

The Iranian president added that: “President Al-Assad’s government has been running the country for many years and if the Syrian people have some grievances against it, they need to go through the legal channels and engage in free elections, for everyone to find out what the people need.”

Rouhani also suggested that to solve the Syrian crisis, the terrorists must first be pushed outside of Syria and then the Syrian opposition has to sit at the negotiating table with the Syrian government to reach a settlement according to the will of the Syrian people.

Regarding US-Iran relations, Rouhani remarked that the “Death to America” slogan that is repeatedly chanted inside Iran is only meant to communicate that Iranians oppose the US’s hostile policies and intervention in their country’s internal affairs and to express their wish for the US to stop.