Syrian president Bashar Assad on Tuesday received Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Shamkhani and the accompanying delegation.

Syrian president Bashar Assad on Tuesday received Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Shamkhani and the accompanying delegation, SANA reported.

Talks during the meeting touched on the strong relations between Syria and Iran and the importance of maintaining and bolstering the standing strategic cooperation between them, as this cooperation forms the basis for defending the interests of the people of the two countries and the entire region and confronting the challenges facing it, first among which is the menace of the spread of Takfiri terrorism, which now threatens all countries near and far.

The two sides asserted that combating terrorism must be carried out according to international law, and that success in this regard requires unifying the efforts of the international community and cooperating with the countries in the region that are waging a war against this looming threat.

They also affirmed that combating terrorism requires abandoning the policies of double standards that are still being employed by the West and particularly by the United States, as these policies seek to implement covert agendas that do not serve the interests of the region’s people.

President al-Assad stressed that confronting the Takfiri extremist mentality spread by terrorists and nurtured by some countries in the region is no less important than fighting the terrorists who commit acts of murder, wreak havoc, and destroy the historic and cultural heritage of people wherever they go.

“Combating terrorism cannot be carried out by states that contributed to establishing terrorist organizations, provided them with logistic and material support, and spread terrorism around the world,” President al-Assad added.

For his part, Shamkhani reiterated Iran’s firm support for Syria and its people in their war on terrorism, expressing his country’s rejection of anything that threatens the unity and territorial integrity of Syria or violates its national sovereignty.

In the same context, Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi discussed with Shamkhani the prospects of bilateral cooperation in various economic and commercial fields to alleviate the effects of the unjust economic embargo imposed on the Syrian people.

Premier al-Halaqi stressed the need to actualize the Iranian credit line to facilitate the flow of Iranian goods into Syrian markets and provide these markets’ needs in terms of supplies, consumer products, and pharmaceuticals.

He also called on Iranian companies to invest and establish development projects in Syria.