‘Syria truce not to hold with foreign interference at work’

TEHRAN, April 21 (MNA) – An Iranian Foreign Ministry official said that the truce in Syria will not last and the plan put forward by Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League joint special envoy on Syria, will not succeed unless certain countries stop interfering in the Arab country’s internal affairs. “There is no hope that the ceasefire will last and Kofi Annan’s initiative will succeed until foreign interference and arming the opposition are not stopped,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told on Friday. Annan has put forward a six-point peace plan for ending the one-year crisis in Syria, which calls for a UN-supervised ceasefire by all parties, the withdrawal of soldiers and heavy weapons from cities, and the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Amir-Abdollahian added that the wise Syrian people have been keeping a close eye on the developments occurring in the country and will not allow outsiders to impose their will on them. Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian deputy foreign minister commented on the agreement signed between the Syrian government and the United Nations on the framework for international observers to monitor the ceasefire and said that all sides engaged in the issue should give enough time to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to carry out the necessary reforms. “Hasty measures by certain sides are not useful and will only complicate matters further,” he added.