Iran-Pakistan Defense Mins. Call For Joint Confrontation With Terrorism

Moscow, May 24, IRNA – Defence Minister Hossein Dehqan, on the sidelines of the 3rd International Security Conference in Moscow met with Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday and the two sides called for joint confrontation with terrorism. In the meeting, the two sides underlined necessity of making efforts to create stability and security in Afghanistan and called for world cooperation to prevent money and weapons transferring to terrorists in Syria to prepare ground for holding presidential elections in that country. Ministers of Defense also underlined necessity of making double efforts in order to develop defensive cooperation between the two countries like bilateral political ties. Referring to recent visit of premier Nawaz Sharif to Iran and his meetings with Iranian senior officials, Dehqan considered it as intention of heads of both states to develop and deepen cooperation between Tehran and Islamabad. He said that Iran and Pakistan have both the problems of terrorism and drug smuggling, and the situation demands more efforts of Tehran and Islamabad to confront with these ominous phenomena. Dehqan invited his Pakistani counterpart to pay a visit to Tehran to promote bilateral defensive cooperation. Khawaja Asif, for his part, by referring to religious and historical commonalities between Iran and Pakistan said existence of a powerful and stable Iran is very important for Pakistan. He underlined that Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan by cultural, historical and religious commonalities have an appropriate ground for development of ties. Concerning dual standards in international relations, he said that the USA, as a model, is fighting with radical groups in Afghanistan while is supporting the same groups in Syria. The Third International Security Conference kicked off in Moscow on Friday and 300 representatives from military bodies and international organizations as well as experts and officials from more than 40 countries are attending in the confab. The latest developments in the Middle East and North Africa and color revolutions were among main topics in the conference. In addition, Ukraine developments and expansion of missile shield in Europe will be considered in the meeting./end